


Just a Little Change

by a_walking_trash_can



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Carlos has a big gay crush on Jay, F/M, M/M, Magic, Original Character(s), Romance, Slow Build, i guess??, i'm not sure what else to tag this, might add more later - Freeform, not very good original characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 13:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4627677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_walking_trash_can/pseuds/a_walking_trash_can
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal looked around the table. “Where’s Jay? I thought you two came down together?”<br/>Carlos snorted with a mouth full of pancake. He swallowed. “He went off somewhere to flirt with Lonnie or whatever.” Evie gave him an apologetic look. She was the only one who had figured out he had a crush on Jay. He ignored her and took a large gulp of milk. “So who are the new kids?” </p><p>Or the one where Carlos has a gigantic crush on Jay, but Jay is too much of an idiot to see it until a new kid comes in and decides they want Carlos all for themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I've only watched the movie so far, but I definitely want to get to reading the book sometime soon. So if any of details in the story are off, I apologize. I also apologize for any mistakes made because this isn't Beta read or anything like that. 
> 
> Since I'm assuming in the movie's universe none of the Disney villains died (even though in their original movies they clearly did) I created a few kids from some of the other villains. That being said the "original characters" are pretty shitty and not very creative to say the least...
> 
> It's rated teen for some mild language for now.

Carlos woke up to Jay wandering around their room and making as much noise as possible. Even Dude let out a small growl at the noise and tried to curl up tighter. Carlos sat up, rubbing his eyes and shaking out his hair. “Why are you so loud?” His attention was caught by the sight of Jay’s shirtless chest. His stomach did that little flip he hated. “And why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” He was definitely awake now.

Jay looked down as if he didn’t realize he was half-naked. “Oh, sorry.” He reached for a shirt off the floor and Carlos made a face. “Ben wanted me to help him welcome the new kids. Mal and Evie are coming too. You know you can always come.”

“Right, the new kids,” Carlos said to himself.

After the gang had proved they had wanted to be good, Ben and his parents decided that maybe it was time to let other children from the Isle of the Lost into Auradon. Carlos wasn’t completely against it, but it felt a little weird. Maybe it was the fear of his mother that was nagging him. Since the barrier had been taken down it meant that people could travel from the Isle to Auradon. Auradon was trying to get it back up, but it seemed like it was taking forever. Carlos could have had it up within a day.

“Yeah, we’re all meeting out front.” Jay checked himself in the mirror and gave his best smile. “Maybe they’ll be some hot girls.” He winked and Carlos tried not to gag.

“You never liked anyone back…” He was about to say _home_ , but that word didn’t quite fit. “Back at Isle of the Lost. What makes you think they’re going to be any different when they come here?” He rubbed Dude’s head, taking comfort in the mutt’s soft fur. “Besides, haven’t you flirted with enough girls here?” He tried to hold back the jealousy in his voice.

Jay simply smirked. “You can never flirt with enough girls. You wouldn’t know that since you’re always so distracted with your laptop.”

Carlos rolled his eyes and finally slipped out of bed. He stretched and went to his closet where he sifted through his clothes. Unlike Jay who wore whatever he could find off the floor, Carlos actually cared about his appearance. A trait he picked up from his mother. He finally chose what he wanted and laid it out on the bed. “I guess I can come with,” he muttered as he pulled his pajama top off.

“Awesome. We’re going after breakfast.” Jay jumped to sit on his own bed, grabbing his phone. They had all been given cellphones since they didn’t have any to bring to Auradon. Ben felt it was a little cruel to have teens in high school without phones. “Lonnie keeps texting me,” Jay said as he scrolled through his phone, “do you think that means she’s into me?”

“I don’t know and I don’t really care either.” He finished adding the final touches to his outfit and a did a quick check in the mirror. At this point Dude was up and trotting around the room, looking for breakfast.

Jay stood and walked over to ruffle his friend’s hair. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the doggy bed.”

Carlos slapped away his hand only to be caught in a headlock. He gasped and tried to punch Jay in the side, but it was futile, especially against someone with so much muscle. Jay laughed and released him, giving him a quick jab in the arm before heading to the door. “Come on, I’m starving.” Carlos fixed his hair and grabbed Dude, muttering under his breath as he followed Jay out into the hall.

* * *

The dining hall was filled with noise and chaos early in the morning. There were students still half-asleep and others cramming for an exam they had. Carlos put his tray down next to Evie who greeted him with a smile. She was sketching a new outfit in her book while eating with her other hand. Carlos smiled back and lowered a small bowl of sausage onto the floor where Dude practically attacked it. “So, I heard you’re coming with us to meet the new kids?” Evie nudged him and he nodded. “That’s awesome.”

“I just don’t get why Ben wants us to do it?” Carlos began to pick at his food. A giant stack of chocolate pancakes with whipped cream and enough maple syrup to cause any normal human being to go into sugar shock.

Evie was about to explain, but Ben and Mal approached the table, settling down across from them. “I just thought if they met you guys, they would understand that they can choose good. They don’t have to be like their parents,” Ben explained as he slung an arm around Mal’s shoulders.

She smiled at this and flicked some of her hair away from her face. “It’s not such a bad plan,” she teased.

“I think it’s a great plan,” Evie said. She went back to concentrating on her work and narrowed her eyes slightly as she scratched away at the design with her pencil.

Mal looked around the table. “Where’s Jay? I thought you two came down together?”

Carlos snorted with a mouth full of pancake. He swallowed. “He went off somewhere to flirt with Lonnie or whatever.” Evie gave him an apologetic look. She was the only one who had figured out he had a crush on Jay. He ignored her and took a large gulp of milk. “So who are the new kids?”

Ben chewed on a piece of bacon absently. “I believe my father said Felicity, daughter of Dr. Facilier, Gary, son of Gaston-” Ben’s face darkened a bit at the mention of Gaston, but he quickly moved on “-Urson, Ursula’s son, and Diamond, the Queen of Heart’s daughter.” Everyone raised an eyebrow at the last name, but Ben just shrugged. “That’s it for right now, but who knows who else we’ll be inviting into our school.”

Mal looked at her boyfriend with a devious smile. “Well, this should definitely be interesting.”

Ben laughed and kissed her cheek. Evie cooed about how cute they were. Carlos looked away, wishing to be anywhere else. They continued eating in silence for a while, but Carlos only picked at his food. He caught sight of Jay across the hall, talking to a group of girls who were giggling at him. He had pulled back his long, dark hair into a bun and Carlos felt himself melt a little. He loved it when Jay put his hair up like that.

He was so enthralled by Jay he didn’t hear when Mal was calling his name. She leaned across the table and snapped her fingers in his face. He jumped. “What?”

“We’re about to finish up, you almost done?” Carlos looked down at his plate, only half of the pancakes were left. He nodded. “Alright, let’s do this.” She stood and searched around the room. “Jay!” Jay looked away from the girls. “Let’s go!”

He said something to the girls to make them all laugh and reach out to touch his arm as he left. Carlos frowned at his tray and absently reached down to pet Dude. Jay sauntered up to the table. “It’s time already?”

Ben finished off his orange juice. “My Dad said they should be here by ten sharp. Fairy Godmother should be out there already waiting for us.” He picked up his tray and tilted his head to one side. Mal said she thought it was slightly cute when he did that, but it only reminded Carlos of Dude. “Shall we?”

* * *

Carlos was sitting on the front lawn, playing with Dude as they waited for the limo to pull up. Fairy Godmother was talking with Ben about royal things while Mal simply scrolled through her phone. She would sometimes look up to show she was still listening in on the conversation. Evie was texting Doug and giggling to herself. Jay was simply standing close to Carlos, arms crossed as he eyed the gate.

The sound of wheels rolling against the stone made everyone perk up. Carlos stood and dusted off the grass from his shorts. Probably a bad idea to sit on the ground wearing white shorts. Dude sat near his feet and he gave him a quick scratch behind the ear.

“Alright, everyone! Smiles!” Fairy Godmother gave them a look that meant they were supposed to look extra happy. The limo pulled up and she waited till the door popped open. “Welcome to Auradon!”

Carlos hid behind Jay slightly as the kids started stepping out. He could have sworn one of them kept staring at him. Ben moved forward, hand out in a peace offering. “I’m Ben, new king of Auradon.” He stepped up to the first girl.

She was tall, dark eyes shifty as she stared at Ben’s hand. Her black hair was curly and unruly, tied back in a bandana that had skulls all over it. Her clothes were ripped and patched together, skulls and other terrifying things hanging from her belt. She took Ben’s hand and nearly yanked him right against her. “Felicity Facilier, nice to meet you.” She smiled and it wasn’t a nice one. “Maybe you’d like me to tell you your fortune?”

Ben yanked his hand away with a tight smile. “That won’t be necessary, but… thank you.” Mal’s eyes glowed green as she glared at Felicity. Felicity just smirked back. Ben moved forward, ignoring the tension. “You must be…” He stopped at the next teen.

“I’m Urson,” he snapped. His skin was lighter brown than Felicity’s and his hair was a shocking gray. He had on heavy makeup and wore a black sweater that hugged his thick body. He rolled a strand of hair between his fingers and let out a loud laugh that startled Dude. “I heard that Ariel’s daughter, Melody, goes to this school, is that true?”

“Well,” Ben faltered, “Auradon is filled with a lot of princes and princesses.” He hurried over to the next girl, losing steam. “Diamond, right?” She was tiny, black beady eyes looking at Evie. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Her cheeks turned red and Jay held back a laugh at how silly she looked. “Is this any way to greet a princess?” She shrieked. “My mother will not stand for this mistreatment!” Her hair was coming undone and began to fall into her face. “I am _royalty_! I deserve to have my own limo! I did not want to be seen coming here with these-these street scum!”

“Now, now, please calm down.” Fairy Godmother held up her hands, face pleading. “We assure you we are not trying to mistreat you.”

“Calm down, Shortstack,” Felicity hummed, her eyes narrowing. “You could wake the dead with that voice,” it came out like a hiss.

Urson snorted. “What I would give if I could take it away. Seriously, shut it.”

Diamond was about to start again, but Ben just hurried over to the last guy. “I’m Ben-”

“Oh,” he said, “I know who you are.” He was tall, broad chested with long black hair. His eyes were a piercing blue and Carlos could still feel them on him now. The boy turned away from Ben with disgust and marched over to where Carlos was trying to shrink himself. Dude growled and even Jay stepped in the way.

“Watch yourself,” Jay warned. Carlos felt his stomach do that stupid twirl thing.

“Please,” the boy sniffed. “I’m just admiring him.” He pushed Jay aside and the other teens tensed to fight. Carlos eyed him, taking a small step back. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said confidently. “I’m Gary and you must be the best looking thing around this horrid place.” Mal choked and Evie made a soft noise of surprise. “What’s your name?” He was practically in the freckled teen’s face.

“Uh,” he looked to Fairy Godmother but she was only encouraging him. “I’m Carlos… Carlos de Vil.”

“Well, Carlos, how about you give me a tour?” He slung his arm around Carlos’ shoulders and hugged him close. Carlos felt bile rise in his throat. Gary smelled like sweat and some terrible body spray that made his eyes water. “A _private_ one would be great.” Dude growled.

Fairy Godmother clapped her hands. “We’ll be having a _group_ tour! So if you could all just follow me!” The new arrivals just gave each other a look and trailed after her, all except Gary who kept his arm tightly around Carlos.

“You should go,” the small teen pointed out.

Gary smiled, showing a lot of teeth. “Only if you’ll accompany me.”

“We’ll all accompany you,” Ben cut in. Mal pulled Carlos away and gave Gary a long stare until he finally walked ahead. They stayed behind them as they moved, Ben stopping by Carlos. “You alright?”

“Yeah, he just freaked me out a little.” Carlos felt a little saddened that Jay wasn’t the one checking on him. “Where did you find these guys anyways?” He picked up Dude, glad to be carrying his comforting weight.

Evie touched his shoulder reassuringly. “I don’t think I’ve seen any of them when we were on the Isle.”

Ben looked ahead to the group where Diamond was shouting about something again. “I guess they were just on a different part of the Isle.”

“More like a different planet,” Jay muttered.

Mal crossed her arms, giving her friends a look. “I was right when I said it would be interesting.”

Carlos felt eyes on him again and found Gary staring at him, a smirk on his lips. The small teen groaned and buried his face into Dude’s fur. “I’ll say,” he whispered to no one.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos is still a giant nerd with a giant crush on a certain someone and the new kids are up to something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos and kind comments!! I didn't think this story would get so much support.  
> This story isn't Beta read so I apologize for any mistakes made!

“So how were the new kids?” Doug settled in next to Evie who gladly leaned her head against his shoulder. In her lap was an open chemistry book she had been using to study during lunch. They decided to sit outside for the day seeing as the weather was nice. “I’ve been hearing rumors, but you guys actually met them first hand.” He pushed at his glasses and picked up his sandwich he had brought.

Mal leaned back on her hands. “I’m really hoping we weren’t as bad as they were when we came here.” For a moment she actually wanted to be worse than them, but remembered what she had learned about being bad. She cleared her throat and picked at her lunch. “Anyways, I think you should watch out for Felicity. She seems to be the leader of the group. She definitely has something up her sleeve.”

“Gary likes to pretend he’s the leader,” Evie put in with a laugh. Mal snorted in agreement. “You should have seen him, I swear even when Ben’s dad was the beast he had less hair than Gary.” She shuddered at the memory of brushing up against Gary’s arms. “Also, he kept trying to show off his muscles to a certain someone.” Her dark eyes looked across their little circle to Carlos who was scarfing down cookies and brownies like no tomorrow.

Doug raised an eyebrow. “So you have an admirer, Carlos?”

Carlos was sucking on his fingers, chocolate smeared across his hands and face. “What are we talking about?”

“We’re talking about Gary trying to flirt with you.” Mal tossed a grape at him, which he caught and ate. “Didn’t you notice how he kept hovering over you.”

Jay laughed, laying back in the grass. “He was seriously all over you.”

Carlos took in their words and looked down to Dude as if the dog could give advice. “Whatever, it’s not like I like him. He’s kind of creepy.” Everyone shared a look of agreement. He picked up another cookie, about ready to eat when Jay snatched it from his hand. “Hey!” Carlos tried to take it back, but Jay was quick to roll away and eat it in one bite. “Jay!”

“Too slow,” the long haired teen teased. Carlos stuck his bottom lip out in a pout, wishing he had the guts to just roll on top of Jay and kiss that smug look off his face. Instead he pushed that thought down and just went back to eating. “Where are they anyways? Ben told us we could go while they went to finish up their paperwork or something. We have tourney practice soon.”

“I’m sure he’ll be back in time.” Evie shrugged.

Jay sat up. “Better be.”

Mal began to pack up the rest of her uneaten lunch. “Well, as great as this meeting was, I have another hair appointment to attend to.” She acted like it was the worst thing in the world, rolling her eyes and sighing. Deep in her heart, she loved it. It was nice to have girls treat her like just another teen instead of a villain.

“Maybe you can give Diamond a helping hand,” Jay joked. Everyone cracked a grin except for Doug who had not seen the horrors of Diamond’s hair.

“I don’t think she would appreciate what I would do to her hair.” Mal grinned at the thought of giving the angry teen a horrible hair makeover. “Tempting, but no,” she said finally. She needed to make sure she remained in check when it came to evil thoughts.

Evie closed her book. “I’ll come with you. I can show you some of my ideas for some of the girls.” She stood and pressed a kiss to the top of Doug’s head. “I’ll see you later. Study date for class?”

Doug turned a light shade of pink and ignored the jeers and faces from the other two boys. “Y-Yeah, after dinner sound good?”

She laughed. “Perfect!” She waved to Jay and Carlos. “See you guys.”

Mal nodded. “Later.”

Jay watched them go before stand up and dusting off his pants. “I’m gonna head out too. Go see if I can find Chad.” He looked at Carlos. “Make sure to be ready for practice later.”

The boy wrinkled his nose. “I barely do anything. What’s the point?” He wiped at his mouth, spreading chocolate along his cheek. “Besides, I was about to launch my website tonight. It’s going to be amazing and I wanted to work on it this afternoon.” He felt himself get excited as he mentioned it. He had been working on it for a few weeks and finally it was polished enough to be presented to the world. AuradonConnect.com would be the hottest thing to hit the school. A place where students could connect and share pictures and so many other things.

Jay rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Later, nerds.” He saluted them and jogged off, slowing down to wave hello to a few girls.

Carlos frowned, picking at the grass around him. Doug cleared his throat. “So, what’s this website?” Carlos perked up a little and began to babble, glad to have someone interested in his work. Though, he wished Jay had been the one to ask. But that was asking for too much.

* * *

The sun was beating down on the tourney field even though it was well past noon. Jay was running around, practicing his tackling and jumping. Carlos watched the from the bench, memorized by every move the older boy made. He was glorious, sweat shining on his dark skin when he pulled his helmet off. His hair was pulled back into a bun and Carlos wanted nothing more than to be the one to let it loose and run his fingers through it.

Carlos gave a wistful sigh and pet Dude’s head, his loyal mutt sitting by his side. “At least you like me, right?” Dude’s tail thumped against the bench and Carlos smiled. “I thought so.” He heard footsteps approaching. “Oh, hey, Ben.”

Ben greeted him with a nod. “Hey, you aren’t on the field?”

“I think we both know I’m better _off_ the field.”

The king did a sort of agreeing grimace. “You work well with Jay though. Maybe you could practice with him for a while?” Carlos must have made a face because Ben quickly spoke again. “That is, if you wanted to.”

“Thanks, but no, thanks.”

“Well, I-”

“Ben! Where do I get my uniform? It should have a number one on it, correct?” Carlos stiffened at the voice and looked past Ben to find Gary making his way over, tourney gear in hand. Gary spotted him and Carlos couldn’t even describe the amount of creepiness that went into his smile. “Ah, there he is. My beauty.” Carlos narrowed his eyes. “Do not be so cold,” Gary teased, “I’ve been missing you.” Even Ben looked terribly uncomfortable in his presence.

Carlos leaned away, Dude growling. “The feeling isn’t mutual.” He put an arm around the mutt.

Gary continued to smile. “You’ll warm up to me eventually. I’m sure of it.” The glint in his icy blue eyes made Carlos’s stomach churn, and not in the nice way.

Ben stepped between them. “So, you decided to try out for tourney? What about Urson.” Maybe it was just Carlos, but he could have sworn Ben’s tone was annoyed.

“He said he would break his nails.” Gary gave a haughty laugh. “He’d much rather fool around with potions. Even when there are more,” his eyes roamed Carlos’s face, “ _entertaining_ things around here.”

Ben pursed his lips, trying to decide what would be best. He finally cleared his throat. “Let’s get you on the field then and see how you do?” He steered Gary away by his shoulder, giving Carlos a concerned look.

Carlos watched, arm still around Dude as Gary put on the gear and tested out his movements. Sure Gary was definitely built like a brick wall and wasn’t necessarily bad looking. It was just his weird, borderline-stalker attitude that freaked Carlos out. Ben called for a practice game and put Gary on the opposite team of Jay.

The whistle blew and the ball was in the air. Jay was amazing, of course. He sprinted between players and shoved others out of the way while passing the ball to his teammates. Gary was waiting for him, body ready to defend the goal. Once Jay came into view, he charged. Carlos nearly jumped at the impact. It was like watching two bulls fight for dominance. Jay wouldn’t back down, even when Gary slammed his stick into his shoulder. He struck him again, this time much harder. Jay took off his helmet and dropped his stick, getting in Gary’s face to yell insults at him.

Ben looked to the coach who blew the whistle. They didn’t listen and continued to fight, bumping chests and shoving each other. The fight broke when the coach wedged himself between them, yelling at Jay to go cool down in the locker room.

Jay shrugged his shoulders, still angry. He gave one last look to Gary before marching off. Carlos grabbed his things and followed, Dude at his heels. He could feel Gary’s eyes on his back, but he didn’t dare look over his shoulder.

“Jay!” Carlos pushed through the locker room door. “What happened?”

Jay began to peel off his clothes and throw them into heap. “Gary is what happened,” he seethed. “That asshole thinks he can take over the field like he owns it.” He was shirtless now, beaded with sweat and his chest heaving with anger. Carlos swallowed thickly, trying to keep his eyes off the sight in front of him. “He was talking crap too. You should have heard the things he said.” Jay shook his head, grabbing his towel from his locker.

“He’s a jerk,” Carlos said weakly. He was too overwhelmed by the sight of Jay. “Don’t let him get to you.You’re better than him.”

The older teen nodded, a few strands of hair stuck to his cheeks. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. “I can’t let him get under my skin. We’re different now. We’re good.”

Carlos nodded. “We’re good.” He reached out and pressed his fingertips to Jay’s shoulder. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Jay gave him one of those dazzling smiles and Carlos felt his cheeks heat up. “I’m fine. He’s not as strong as he makes himself out to be. I’m going to take a shower. I highly doubt coach wants me back out there after that.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the showers. “You still going out there or are you going to join me?”

Now Carlos felt like his knees were going to buckle. _Get a hold of yourself de Vil_ , he thought. “Ah, I didn’t even move around all that much. I might just change and head back to our room. Study a little bit.”

“Such a nerd,” Jay laughed. He turned on his heel and began to walk away. “Have fun.”

Carlos waited until he heard the screech of the shower starting and the constant thrum of water fill the air. Dude whined, noticing his human friend was distressed.“Yeah,” Carlos whispered, “fun.”

* * *

It was nearly midnight as Carlos tapped away at his computer. It was provided by the school and not one of the laptops Jay had stolen. He had returned those after their change of heart. Now Carlos added his finishing touches on AuradonConnect, tongue peeking out between his lips. Jay was on his own bed, phone in hand as he barely focused on his homework.

Carlos hesitated before finally pressing the last key. Suddenly, his screen lit up with the homepage, brand new and perfect—if he had to say so himself. He had two accounts, one to control the site and a personal one for friends. “Jay, Jay,” he called, “come check it out!”

Jay slipped off his bed and sat on the edge of Carlos’s. He grabbed the laptop and scrolled through the website for a minute. “Wow, this is actually really awesome.” He nudged the smaller teen with his elbow. “How do I make an account?”

“I sent out emails to everyone, it tells you how to do it.” Carlos felt giddy, his head buzzing. “I hope everyone else will like it.” He bit his lip.

“Relax.” Jay slid an arm around his shoulders, giving him a small squeeze. “It’s going to be great. Tomorrow everyone will be on it.”

Carlos wanted to speak, but Jay was so close it was hard to even form words. Jay’s hair tickled his cheek and neck. He smelled like spices and something else, something inherently… Jay. Carlos took a deep breath, leaning into Jay’s touch. Jay mistook it for worry and gave him another quick squeeze. “You’ll see. It’ll be fine,” he said in a quiet tone.

“Yeah, thanks.” Carlos managed to pull himself away and close his laptop. “I think I’m going to sleep.”

“Alright, I’m going to stay up for a little while more. I’ll try not to bother you.” Jay went back to his own bed. “Night.”

Carlos put his laptop on his nightstand and snuggled beneath his covers. “Night.” Dude curled up against his back. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Jay’s phone vibrating and the scratch of a pencil against paper. His mind began to wander, recalling Jay’s warm touch and inviting scent. He fell asleep with the thought of Jay’s lips against his.

* * *

Gary was pacing around his room, hands twisting behind his back as he grumbled to himself. Urson was at the mirror, painting his lips a bright red. Diamond was watching him, taking in his technique so she could try it in her own dorm and most likely mess up. Felicity was on Gary’s bed, messing around with her tarot cards. Gary finally broke the silence, throwing his hands into the air. “I just don’t get why he hasn’t fallen for me yet. I’m the most handsome guy around! I’m smart, I’m talented—I’m everyone’s dream!”

“More like everyone’s nightmare,” Urson muttered, smacking his lips together. Gary snarled at him, but the boy barely batted a fake eyelash. “Look, if you want him to love you, just get a spell to do it. So much easier than actually having him fall in love with you the natural way.”

“Then why don’t you make me a spell? Your mother was a sea witch, you should be able to do it.” Gary crossed his arms.

Urson laughed. It was deep and throaty, much like his mother’s. “She dealt with contracts and souls. I don’t want anything of yours, especially your soul. Find someone else to do it.” He went back to applying his makeup.

Gary looked at Diamond for a moment. “Don’t look at me,” she snapped, “my mother may be the Queen of Hearts, but that doesn’t mean she actually deals with them. She’s heartless herself, the bitch.”

“None of you are any help! You’re all just useless!”

“Now, hold on a second.” Felicity’s smooth voice sang through the air. “You said you want this boy to fall in love with you?”

“Of course, he needs someone like me. He’s too infatuated with that—that disgusting street rat.”

She stood and shuffled her cards through the air. “I think I can help you.”

Gary raised an eyebrow, wary. “What’s the price?”

Felicity laughed, dark eyes glittering. “Oh, no price. I want to see that little group of so called ex-villains fall apart. Mal thinks she’s so high and mighty choosing good.” She tilted her head up, smile fading into a scowl. “She needs to learn that being bad is the only way to live.” The cards disappeared in a cloud of smoke and she threaded her fingers together. “But first, we have to get you your little boyfriend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos gets an unexpected gift as he deals with heartbreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to say thank you once again for all the kind comments and kudos!  
> I hope this chapter is alright and that you guys like it.  
> This story isn't Beta read so I apologize for any mistakes made!

A few weeks passed by and suddenly everyone was talking about AuradonConnect. Carlos was being invited to so many parties it was amazing. He had never had this many people talking to him over something he made. It filled him with joy and pride as people complimented his work. Even his closest friends decided to join. The only thing that bothered him was Gary. The older teen had continued to stare at him and try to coerce him into dates. Luckily Mal and Evie were quick to come to his defense. Even Jay sometimes.

Now Carlos sat in class fidgeting as he waited for the bell to ring. He could find Dude once class was over. Most of his teachers didn’t allow the dog in their classrooms. It was almost lunch time which meant he would get to see his friends. Usually he was in the same classes as them (perks of being smart was getting to skip a few grades) but he had few classes where he was on his own.

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from sighing. His eyes were practically glued to the clock as he watched it tick on and on in agonizing seconds. The teacher continued to drone on.

To his delight, the bell rang while the teacher was in mid-sentence. Before he could assign homework, Carlos gathered his things and rushed to the door. He was blindsided when he walked into a wall. Or, what he thought was a wall. Instead, there stood Gary. Carlos held back a groan. “Uh, excuse me,” he muttered, moving around him.

“Carlos, my dear,” Gary called after him. He followed him down the halls, sticking close to the freckled teen. “I have something I wish to give you.” His voice echoed in the hallway, gathering attention from the other students.

“I don’t really like gifts.” Carlos waved to a few people, hoping to lose his stalker in the crowd. “Sorry, I have to go meet my friends!” He urged his feet to go faster and was practically jogging down the halls. He slipped around corners and hid behind groups of people until he felt like it was safe. Letting out a sigh of relief, he made his way into the dining hall. “Jay!”

Jay was waiting in line for food, a tray in hand. He spotted Carlos and grabbed another tray. Carlos gave a grateful smile and stood next to him. “Man, you won’t believe who was following me in the halls.”

The dark haired teen scanned the lunch room and frowned. “I think I can make a pretty good guess.” He nudged his friend’s arm. “He’s looking for you now and I don’t think he’s going to stop anytime soon.”

“Ugh,” Carlos muttered. “I finally get how Ben’s mom felt when she had to deal with Gaston.”

“If he’s really bothering you just say the word and all of us will make him stop,” Jay said.

Carlos heart thrummed in his chest. It was nice having Jay being so protective of him. “I’m fine. I don’t need to bother everyone. And besides, if you get into another fight with him, Coach said he’s going to bench for the next three games. The team needs you.”

Jay scratched at his jaw. “I guess you’re right.” He sighed through his nose. “At least tell just the girls then. You know they’ll put a spell on him or something to keep him away.” They both smirked at each other, thinking of the possibilities of messing with Gary. There was a bark and Carlos knelt down to greet Dude. The dog whined and licked his chin, tail wagging a mile a minute. The line moved and they got their food, both piling their trays full. Jay was a little more health conscious since he was now part of a team and that meant he needed to watch his health. Carlos had grabbed a sandwich, but the rest of his meal consisted of sweets.

They found a table near the back and sat down. Carlos hoped they were out of sight so Gary wouldn’t be able to find him. Unfortunately, his hopes were crushed instantly as his name rang through the air.

Gary moved towards their table and Jay looked ready to fight. Carlos shook his head. “Jay, don’t,” he said under his breath. Jay gave him a long look before going back to his food. Gary was by his side in no time at all, slamming his foot down on the bench, leaning his arm on his knee. “What do you want?” Even Dude seemed suspicious, keeping an eye on Gary.

“I told you before that I had something to give you.” His posture was relaxed, his free hand stuffed into his pocket. “You ran off before I could even give you it.” His eyes narrowed playfully, but to Carlos it was just creepy. “Don’t you want to know what it is?”

Carlos shrugged. “Not really.”

Gary laughed and Carlos hunched his shoulders. Jay bit into a carrot stick angrily. “Of course you want to know!” Carlos was about to argue, but Gary pulled his hand out of his pocket and held something out. “It was made _especially_ for you.” He opened his fingers and revealed a black leather choker, a tag in the shape of a heart dangling from it. “Beautiful, just like you.”

“I’m not a dog,” Carlos said with a bit of anger in his tone. “You can’t just collar me and expect me to be yours.” He said an apology in his head to Dude.

Gary’s smile widened. “I would never dream of it,” he cooed. “Look at it as a token of peace between me and you. Something you can wear and think of me.” The tag sparkled in the light as he moved. Carlos’s spine straightened as he felt Gary’s body press against him. He draped the choker against Carlos’s neck. “Now, wouldn’t that just look lovely wrapped around your neck?”

Jay slammed his hands against the table and stood. “Hey, back off.”

Gary clucked his tongue and moved away, placing the gift in Carlos’s hand. “At least try it on once.” It wasn’t so much a suggestion, but more of a command. He gave a dark look to Jay. “I’ll leave you to your food and… _company_.” With a flourish he stalked off.

“Okay, he just jumped up on the creep scale.” Jay sat down and looked over Carlos’s face. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.” He looked at the choker and for some reason felt it would be rude to just throw it away. He shoved it into his jacket pocket and turned back to his lunch. “Maybe now he’ll leave me alone.” He took a large bite of his sandwich. The girls came over a few minutes later. Doug and Ben were with them as well.

Mal sat down next to Jay while Evie took the spot next to Carlos. “So,” Mal said, “did we miss anything exciting?”

Jay filled them in on what had happened with Gary. Evie put a hand on Carlos’s arm. “Do you want us to do something about him? I mean, this is getting kind of weird. Like, he-might-kidnap-you-and-hide-you-in-a-tower weird.”

Carlos rolled his eyes. “I’m _not_ a princess.”

“I bet he begs to differ,” Mal joked. She turned to Ben, concern slipping into her features. “Can you do anything about it?”

He shrugged. “Unless he’s doing something that might make everyone suspicious he’s up to something evil, no, not really. Right now it just seems like he’s trying woo our little friend here.” He frowned and shook his head. “But, you guys are right. There’s something about him I just don’t trust.”

Doug swallowed before speaking. “Maybe it’s the whole drama with your dad that’s bothering you?”

Ben gave him an unamused look. “Yes, thank you, I hadn’t thought about that.”

Evie ruffled her boyfriend’s hair. “Bad history aside, I think you should keep an eye on Gary. There’s something about him that freaks me out. The rest of them too.”

“That’s what they were saying about you guys too,” Ben pointed out.

Mal rolled her eyes. “We were not that bad.”

Ben laughed and rubbed his thumb along her cheek. “You kind of were.”

Jay made a gagging noise. “You guys are making me sick with all your affection.” He made kissing faces and Carlos had to look away.

“Aren’t you the one who keeps hitting on girls?” Mal crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. “I heard you’re going on a date with Lonnie tonight.” She took out her phone. “I saw her update on AuradonConnect. Lot’s of comments.” She waved her phone in Jay’s face.

“Shut up,” Jay moaned. “It’s not like it’s anything serious.”

Carlos fidgeted in his seat. Evie pet his hair and smiled. Carlos swatted at her hand, but gave her a grateful look before going back to his food. He ignored the rest of the conversation, his mind wandering to the choker still in his pocket. He patted his hand against the bulge and wondered what it would look like with his outfit. By all means it wasn’t ugly, but it was given to him by Gary. He heard his name being called and forced himself out of his thoughts. “Hm?”

“We’re going to have a study group tonight, you want to join us?” Evie smiled at him.

“Oh, uh, sure. We can meet in my room.” She gave him a quick look of concern. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

She smiled. “Okay, I’ll text you to remind you.”

“Thanks.” He went back to focusing on his food while the others chatted. He didn’t really listen to what they were saying. His mind kept wandering to the choker in his pocket. It kept drawing his thoughts away from his friends. Something about it was so alluring, even if it was from Gary. He was about to slip his hand into his pocket, but was startled when everyone began to stand. He lifted his head and blinked in surprise. How long had he been thinking?

Ben looked at him. “Didn’t you hear the bell? Lunch is over.” Carlos continued to just stare. “You sure you’re feeling alright? You seem to be zoning out a lot today.”

Evie pressed her palm to his forehead. “You don’t have a fever. Are you sick?”

“Don’t baby him, E, if he’s sick we’d be hearing him complain.” Mal said. “Remember the last time he had a cold? All he did was whine and wipe his snot on everything.” She shuddered at the memory. “I hope he never gets sick again for the sake of us all.”

Evie stuck out her lip in a frown. “Well…” She cupped Carlos’s cheeks. “If you start to feel sick, tell us. Me and M can work something to help make you feel better.” He made a noise that meant he heard her and she nodded her head. “Alright?”

Doug touched her arm. “We should get to class before the late bell rings.” She giggled and looped her arm through his. She glanced at Carlos before walking away.

Jay came around the table and wrapped his arm around the freckled teen’s neck in a loose headlock. “Get yourself together. We have a game coming up.”

“Like I even play in the games.” Carlos shifted away, fixing his outfit and hair. “Besides, you have more important things to worry about. Like your date.” He hoped his voice didn’t sound as bitter as he felt.

He turned on his heel and hurried to put his tray away, Dude trailing behind at his heels. As he waded through the throngs of students, his hand wandered to his jacket pocket without even thinking about. A spark went up his spine and he looked around wildly, his heart jackhammering as his eyes met Gary’s from across the room. He swallowed the lump in his throat and ducked his head, trying to disappear.

* * *

Carlos flopped back on his bed. He groaned and stretched his arms, wondering if it was too late for some hot chocolate. Jay was wandering around the room, picking up clothes and checking them out in the mirror before tossing them back on the floor. The study group had just broken up and now Carlos had to wallow in his self-pity of watching Jay getting ready for his date. “Go with the brown jacket, it goes well with your eyes,” he finally sighed. There was only so much fashion mistakes he could take before putting his foot down.

Jay grabbed the jacket off his desk. “Really?” He slipped it on and did a few poses in the mirror. He laughed. “I guess it does make my eyes look good.” He grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

“You’re welcome.” Carlos rolled onto his stomach, reaching out to rub Dude’s belly. “So why are you even freaking out about this date? I thought you were amazing with the ladies?”

“I don’t know. Before I never really put any effort into dating.” Jay put on one of his hats and frowned. “Hat or no hat?”

The smaller teen stared. “No hat. You look better with your hair up.” He watched as Jay did as he said and pulled his hair up into a bun.

Jay smirked into the mirror. “How do you know what looks so good on me?”

Carlos bit his lip. It definitely wasn’t because he was always thinking about Jay and watching his every move. Certainly not. He just shrugged and sat up, grabbing his laptop. A few people pointed out a few issues with AuradonConnect that he wanted to fix. “So are you really going to be serious with Lonnie?” As he shifted on the bed, his eyes drifted over to the choker sitting on his nightstand. He quickly focused on his computer.

“I don’t know. Guess it just depends.” Jay grabbed his phone and checked it. He was supposed to meet Lonnie on the front lawn.

Carlos tapped his fingers against the keys. “Ah. Gotcha.” He logged onto AuradonConnect and noticed that Lonnie had posted something about being excited for tonight. He felt sick, but liked the post because there really was nothing he could do. Not unless he confessed everything to Jay. That would never happen. “But what if you don’t really want to date her?”

Jay looked over Carlos’s face carefully. “Then I guess I don’t date her.” He sat down on the edge of Carlos’s bed. “What’s up with all the questions. You never cared about my dating life before?” Carlos wanted to point out that was because he just didn’t want to deal with the pain. Instead he just shrugged and pretended to be interested in whatever was on his computer screen. “Whatever, C.” He stood and his phone buzzed, making Carlos jolt. “Looks like my date is waiting for me. I’ll be in late. Don’t wait up for me.” He ruffled his friend’s hair and was out the door without another word.

Carlos waited until he was sure Jay was gone and he looked down to Dude. “Do you think I should just give up and find someone less painful to like?” Dude gave a whine and kicked his legs out as he stretched. “I think it would be a lot easier.” But he couldn’t just let go of Jay. Not after everything they had been through.

He shook his head and tried to focus on the task at hand. He was able to fix a few bugs and put out an announcement about it. People were quick to comment and give thanks before going back to posting their photos. Lonnie had posted a new photo of her in a dress, standing on the front lawn. She looked beautiful as she smiled into the camera. Carlos pursed his lips at the caption. ‘Can’t wait for date!!’ He shut his laptop and shoved it away.

Now he was having doubts about his website. All it was doing was proving to Carlos that he would never be able to date Jay. The freckled teen pinched the bridge of his nose and looked to his nightstand. The choker shone in the light of his bedroom lamp. Something about it was calling him and he shifted uneasily before finally standing and staring it down.

Gary was someone to avoid. He was dangerous and controlling. He was vain and rude. Carlos reminded himself of this as he picked up the collar. His limbs tingled as he ran his fingers over the heart tag. _Well, he did give me a gift_ , Carlos thought, _he can’t be that bad, right?_

He walked over to the mirror, looking at himself. He was thin and small compared to the other boys at Auradon. He was reminded of that every time he watched the tourney games from the bench. He was in his pajamas, a simple t-shirt and shorts. He held up the choker to his neck, tilting his head so he could see how it looked. It was a little on the “girly” side, but there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

After a moment of hesitation, Carlos closed the choker’s clasp. His body felt heavy for a moment. He touched the choker, feeling it warm against his skin. His mind seemed to cloud and after a few minutes he reached behind his neck to take off the piece of jewelry. There was a moment of confusion. He couldn’t find the clasp. All he felt was smooth leather.

For some reason, he didn’t panic. It was a nice choker and there really was no reason to take it off. He gave himself one more look in the mirror before shrugging and going back to his bed. He could always ask Jay to take it off in the morning. He paused. “Wouldn’t it be better to ask Gary since he’s the one who had it made?” He spoke aloud. Dude didn’t give an answer. Carlos furrowed his brow as he turned off the lights and moved his laptop so he could lay down. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander in confusion with thoughts of Jay and Gary. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it wasn't that good!!
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay notices that Carlos is acting strange and so does everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the encouraging comments and the kudos!! They mean a lot!
> 
> I hope this chapter is alright!
> 
> This story isn't Beta read so I apologize for any mistakes made!

Something felt off when Carlos woke up. He blinked and stared around his room. Jay was already up, going through his phone with a smile on his face. Dude was also awake, chewing on a bone for breakfast. Carlos sat up and rubbed his eyes, wondering why his head was so clouded. “Morning,” he muttered.

Jay glanced at him. “Morning.”

Carlos went to scratch his neck, but stopped when his fingers brushed the choker. “Hey,” he stood. “Can you take…” He trailed off and dropped his hand to his side. Did he really want to take the choker off?

“What?” Jay raised an eyebrow at him.

“Uh, n-nothing. Nevermind.” Carlos turned away and went to his closet. He rummaged through his clothes. _I wonder what outfit would make me look nice._ He bit his lip and pulled out a long sleeved shirt. _Would Gary like this?_ He stopped, lips turning down into a small frown. _Why would I…_ He shook his head. “It’s just too early. That’s all.”

Jay was up and walking around. “You say something?”

“No. Just talking to myself.” Carlos blindly pulled out some other clothes and started to change. He needed to clear his head before he had any other weird thoughts. Maybe he was just hungry. He glanced in the mirror and fixed his hair. He watched Jay in the reflection feeling a dull ache in his chest. Jay caught his eyes in the mirror, but Carlos’s stomach didn’t do that flip he was used to.

“You sure you’re okay? You were acting kind of weird yesterday and it looks like you’re out of it this morning?” Jay walked up behind him and Carlos just shrugged. “Hey, what’s this?” Jay’s fingers brushed against the choker and Carlos’s neck. Carlos jolted, his heart racing. His mind clouded over and he couldn’t think for a moment. “Isn’t that the necklace Gary gave you?”

Carlos breathed in deeply. “Um, yeah. I just thought about trying it on.”

Jay scoffed. “You can’t seriously want to wear that all day?”

“I don’t know. It’s not too bad.”

“But _Gary_ gave it to you.” Jay crossed his arms, suspicious with his friend. “Did he come here after I left and threaten you or something? What is he holding against you to make you say this?”

Carlos looked away. “Maybe I just think he isn’t as bad as we all assumed.”

Now Jay’s jaw dropped and he spun his friend around. “Do you hear yourself? You don’t like Gary! _Nobody_ likes Gary!” He grasped Carlos’s shoulders and shook him. “He’s bad and we’re good, remember?”

Carlos shoved Jay away, clenching his jaw. “Maybe he wants to be good too? Have you ever thought about that? Everyone gave us a chance when he first came here so we should do the same for them.” It felt like he didn’t have control over his mouth as he spoke. With a startled expression he grabbed his bag and went to the door with his shoulders hunched. “I’m going to go eat something. Dude, come on!” Dude jumped up and hurried after him. He slammed the door shut, leaving Jay to try and sort through what just happened.

* * *

“I swear, E, Carlos freaked out on me this morning.” Jay was running his fingers through his hair. They were sitting together in class, but of course Jay wasn’t paying attention. He would just copy Evie’s notes later.

“So? I bet he was just tired.” She glanced at the board and scribbled down something in her notebook. She wanted to explain to Jay that maybe it was because of his romantic escapades that Carlos was becoming increasingly distant with him. But then Jay would ask questions and she would never tell Carlos’s secret crush to anyone. Certainly not to the boy Carlos liked.

Jay shook his head. “No, see, he freaked out over Gary.”

Evie finally looked at him. “Is Carlos okay? DId Gary do something to him? Was that why he wasn’t at breakfast?”

The tanned teen rubbed at his forehead, warding off the oncoming headache. “I don’t think Gary did anything to him. It was just... Carlos was actually defending Gary.” Evie raised an eyebrow. “I thought Carlos hated him and all of a sudden this morning he’s acting as if I’m the bad guy.” He tried to ignore the irony in his statement as he gave a pleading look to Evie. “He listens to you, maybe you can talk to him or something and find out what’s going on.”

She put down her pencil. “Jay, are you sure there’s something wrong with Carlos?”

“Yes! That’s why I’m asking you to talk to him.”

“Maybe there’s something else going on,” she said softly.

He scoffed. “And what would that be?”

“Well,” Evie started, “you could be jealous that Carlos is accepting Gary as a friend.”

Jay sneered. “Why would I be jealous.”

She pushed her long, blue hair off her shoulder. “You two have always been close. Carlos-” she paused, looking for the right word “-looks up to you. I don’t like Gary any more than you do, but it’s possible Carlos sees something in him that we can’t. We got a second chance at being good. Maybe Gary just needs someone to see the good in him.”

“I don’t like this,” Jay finally muttered.

“You don’t have to like it,” Evie pointed out, “you just have to trust one of your best friends.” She went back to writing down notes, but what Jay had said made her worried. It _was_ strange of Carlos to defend Gary, especially when the freckled boy had been doing his best to get away from him. She bit her lip and sighed. “I’ll try and talk to him before lunch, but I don’t make any promises that it’ll do anything.”

Jay just gave her a grateful nod and started drumming his pencil against his desk in a fast rhythm. Evie tilted her head, watching Jay for a moment before writing down another line of notes.

* * *

“Carlos! There you are!” Evie pushed through the crowd of students in the halls. Carlos turned away from Jane who had been talking to him about AuradonConnect. “I’ve been looking for you all over the place. It’s nearly lunch time.”

He looked at his phone and shrugged. “Didn’t think it was time already,” he mumbled. “Sorry, I’ve been having troubles concentrating all day.” He rubbed his forehead and blinked a few times. Dude was at his feet, waiting patiently for Carlos to go get lunch. “What did you need me for?”

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Jane smiled and scurried off, holding her books against her chest.

Evie waited until she was out of earshot before speaking. “I just wanted to see if you’re alright. Jay was worried about you this morning. I’m a little worried too.” She shifted from foot to foot.

“I’m fine.” Carlos rolled his eyes. “Why does Jay even care?”

She frowned. “We all care, C. I think you freaked him out a little this morning. What did you guys even fight about? Jay said it had something to do with Gary.”

His hand immediately went to his throat where he touched the heart-shaped tag of his choker. “He was just insulting Gary for no reason. I didn’t think the guy deserved it so I defended him. Jay is just being a jerk.”

Evie eyed the collar. “Isn’t the gift you were talking about yesterday? The one Gary gave to you?” Carlos nodded, not sure what she was getting at. “You’re wearing it?”

“I think it looks nice,” he said matter-of-factly.

“It is nice, but I didn’t think you wanted to wear it.” She searched his face, wondering if Jay was right. “Yesterday it sounded like you would rather throw it away. What made you change your mind about it?”

He leaned back on his heels. “I don’t know. Just thought I would try it on and it turns out I like it.”

“But you do realize if Gary sees you wearing it, he’s not going to leave you alone.”

“So? He’s not that bad once you get to know him.”

Evie’s frown deepened. “Is that so…” She took a step back. “Why don’t we get some lunch? I’m starving.”

Carlos followed her. “Sure, I can go for some food.”

They walked together and Evie’s phone went off. She glanced at it and and typed something back. “Mal says it’s nice enough to eat outside today. You want to go join them?” Carlos did a half-shrug half-nod. “I’ll tell her we’ll be out there soon.” She finished texting and they hurried to grab their food.

After they had filled their trays, they were making their way outside when Carlos stopped in his tracks. Evie turned, confused on why he had stopped. “Something wrong?” She looked to where he was staring and made a noise of disapproval. Gary was down the hall, surrounded by his friends as he waved to Carlos. “Carlos, let’s go. They’re waiting.” She grabbed his arm and he faltered, waving back to Gary before turning away.

Evie marched outside and met the rest of their group under one of the many trees that dotted the lawns of Auradon High. She gave Jay a look and he responded with one of his own that seemed to say ‘I told you he was acting weird’. She sat down and put her tray in front of herself. Carlos sat down next to her, the tag on his choker tinkling with his movements. Dude laid down next to him and he fed the mutt scraps from his lunch.

Mal sucked some leftover jam off her thumb. Ben watched her with affection as he ate his own lunch. Doug put down his sandwich and wiped his mouth before speaking. “So, Jay, how’d your date go?”

Carlos stiffened and scratched at his neck worriedly, but his body soon relaxed as his fingers grazed his choker. Jay ate some of his lunch and spoke with his mouth half-full. “It was nice, I guess. I don’t think Lonnie is really my type.”

“Why?” Mal grinned. “Because she can kick your butt better than anyone else?” Jay scowled at her and threw a balled up napkin at her. She easily swatted it away. “You know it’s true.”

“Shut up. She’s just, I don’t know… I guess we don’t have the same interests. She even agreed with me so there’s nothing awkward between us.”

“That’s good then.” Evie glanced to Carlos, but found him staring across the lush lawn as if he was in a daze. “So,” she began, trying to grab his attention. “How has tourney practice been going? I’ve heard from Chad it’s been tough lately.”

Jay shook his head. “Like you wouldn’t believe. Coach is basically punishing us all for Gary. He doesn’t want to play as a team. Everything is about him.”

“Sounds like someone we know here.” Doug raised his eyebrows and gestured to Jay.

“That is probably the most offensive thing I have ever heard—and you should have heard some of the things people called me back on the Isle.” He crossed his arms defensively. “I’m nothing like Gary. I learned how to play as a teammate, he’s just showing off because he thinks he’s better than everyone else.”

Carlos narrowed his eyes. “Or maybe he’s just better than you and you’re jealous?”

The group fell into silence, Mal’s mouth open in shock as she looked between her two friends. Ben coughed and tried to avoid Jay’s gaze. Doug did the same, inspecting his lunch with sudden interest. Evie cleared her throat and straightened her back. “So does anyone think joining the mathletes would be a good idea? I could design new uniforms for the team and maybe make it a little more exciting?” She looked around with a tight smile on her face.

Doug, grateful for the change in conversation, smiled. “That sounds great. I’ve been wondering when you would join. Those guys have been begging me to ask you to join. They could use you on the team.” He blushed and shrugged. “You’d be the smartest and fairest on the team.”

Evie held back a squeal and twisted a curl of hair around her finger. “You’re just saying that.”

Mal was still taken aback by Carlos’s outburst as she spoke. “Uh, yeah, E, you’d be great.” Her eyebrows creased as she tried to figure out what had just happened.

Evie pulled out her phone and typed quickly. Mal felt a buzz in her pocket and pulled out her phone, giving a questioning gaze to Evie before checking the screen.

_From: Evie_

_\- I’ll explain later. Major drama!!_

She tilted her phone slightly so Ben could see the message. He pursed his lips and looked to Jay and then to Carlos. Carlos seemed undisturbed and picked at his food, a distracted look crossing his face before he scanned the lawn. He seemed as if he was waiting for someone to show up.

There was a commotion and the group watched as Gary and the others came strolling across the lawn. Ben noticed the way Carlos seemed to brighten and raised a hand to wave. Gary smirked and waved back, even winking and blowing Carlos a kiss. Carlos’s face split into a smile and Ben didn’t know what to think.

Evie was right, there was some major drama going on.

* * *

Gary kicked the trunk of a tree as he grit his teeth. They had walked past Carlos and yet he didn’t come running straight into Gary’s arms. “Why isn’t he in love with me yet? He’s wearing the collar!” He turned to glare at his friends who were all strewn around in the grass.

Urson had placed a blanket down before he sat and was doing Diamond’s nails. She was squirming and wiggling. “He’s too in love with that Jay guy—If you don’t stop moving I’m going to paint your face red,” he scolded Diamond. She only jerked her hands even more to annoy him.

“But he should be in love with _me_!” Gary’s nostrils flared.

Felicity laid down on her back, using her arms as pillows. “Relax,” she said smoothly, “It’ll only take another day or so and soon he’ll be all over you. Urson was right when he said that boy is too in love. But once the magic really kicks in he won’t even pass a glance at his friends.” She laughed and the shadow of the tree seemed to darken. “And once he’s with us, we’ll be able to move forward with our plan.”

Diamond tried to lean closer to her. “What’s the plan again?”

“What did I just say!” Urson growled, wielding the polish brush like a weapon.

Diamond sneered at him and Felicity waved a hand through the air. “Both of you quiet down.” They did and she smiled. “I’ll discuss the plan once Carlos falls under the spell. I need him for the next part.” She crossed her right leg over her left and bounced her foot. “And once that happens, well, little miss goody-goody Mal will wish she never left the Isle.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang tries to step in before it's too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just have to say thank you for the comments! They mean a lot and reading them really brings me joy, especially when university is becoming more and more stressful and it's getting harder to find time to write.  
> So thank you again for commenting (even if you don't comment thank you for reading!) and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. 
> 
> I hope this chapter turned out alright. 
> 
> This story isn't Beta read so I apologize for any mistakes made!

“Okay, group meeting can begin.” Evie was perched up on one of the counters in the empty student kitchen. Mal was next to her with Ben at her side. Doug and Jay stood across from them. “Now, as I had explained before: Carlos is acting majorly weird and no one really knows what’s going on.” She looked at Jay. “Has anything else happened since yesterday?”

Jay shrugged, trying not to seem so worried. “He left early again. Like he’s avoiding me or something. And in the halls I saw him talking with Gary.”

Ben scratched at his jaw. “Do you think he’s blackmailing him?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Maybe Carlos just wants to be friendly?” Doug put in.

Jay gave a gruff laugh. “Gary doesn’t have _friendly_ intentions. Carlos knew that.”

Mal chewed on the inside of her cheek before she spoke. “I don’t want to suggest that maybe Carlos is actually into Gary, but it could be a possibility.” Jay gave her a look and she tilted her head. “I said it was a possibility, not that he’s totally in love with Gary.”

“I think we should just watch out for Carlos and if we see anything else that’s strange, then maybe that’s when we should really start to worry.” Evie bit her nails. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t worry now, obviously he’s not himself, but maybe after a day or two he’ll snap out of it?”

“Me and Jay can watch over him during tourney practice.” Ben nodded to Jay. “If Gary tries to pull anything during practice then we can definitely step in.”

Mal looked to Evie. “He hasn’t said anything to you at all?”

The other girl shook her head. “I wish he did.”

“I’m sure if something were really wrong he would say _something_ , right?” Doug looked at his friends, getting concerned glances in return. “He would… wouldn’t he?”

Evie’s lips turned down in the corners and she lowered her voice. “Carlos is…” She stopped and sighed. “Carlos doesn’t like to talk about his feelings or his troubles with us. His mother wasn’t the kindest and he suffered a lot growing up. He learned to keep it to himself and I guess he hasn’t really broke past that.”

Ben scratched the back of his head. “But I thought you guys were his closest friends? Wouldn’t he trust you guys?”

Mal shook her head. “He’s still trying to break the walls he’s built up. Even with us, there’s always this sort of discommunication with him over his problems.” She pretended to be interested in her nails. “I wanted to put a spell on him so he would actually talk to us, but E said that wouldn’t be right.” She scoffed and Evie smacked her shoulder gently.

“It’s not right because he needs to talk to us without him being under a spell. He does trust us, but we need to give him time.” Evie sighed and tilted her head back. “Anyways, we should keep a close eye on him for a little while and if we see any major changes then we’ll intervene.” She jumped off the counter. “Agreed?”

There was a round of agreement. As they made their way out of the kitchen Evie gave Jay a smile, but he didn’t return it. Instead, he stared straight ahead, as if his mind was somewhere else.

* * *

Carlos was sweating as he sat on the bench. Practice hadn’t even started yet and he was already dripping. It was too hot to be moving around, but with tourney season picking up, coach wanted them to practice no matter what the weather.

He slumped forward, wiping at his forehead with the edge of his jersey. He wasn’t going to make it if it was going to be like this. He licked his lips, but his tongue felt like paper. His water bottle was bone dry and he didn’t have the energy to walk back to the changing room to refill it.

Something cold pressed against his neck and he jumped, dark eyes widening. “G-” He caught himself when he looked up and saw Jay standing over him. “Oh, Jay.” He suddenly felt dizzy as he tried to stand.

Jay caught his arm. “Hey, you aren’t looking too hot.”

“Well I _feel_ really hot,” Carlos mumbled, shaking his arm out of Jay’s grip. He managed to stay upright and shaded his eyes with his hand. “What’s up?”

“You looked like you were ready to throw up so I thought you would want some water.” Jay held out his water bottle. “I just refilled it before we came out. It’s nice and cold.”

Carlos debated whether or not to take it. His heart was pounding wildly, but his mind was telling him to ignore the bottle and wait for Gary. He shifted from foot to foot before slowly taking the bottle. Jay smiled as he took long gulps, an icy chill running down his throat. He gave a gasp of relief and handed the bottle back to Jay. “I really should go refill mine.”

“Maybe you should sit this practice out. I don’t think this heat is going to help you.” Jay ruffled his friend’s hair. “You haven’t been yourself lately,” he mentioned in a lowered tone. “I’ll tell coach you aren’t feeling well. Maybe he’ll let you sit out and write plays for us to try.”  

Carlos waved Jay’s hand away. “Thanks. I’m gonna go refill my bottle. I’ll be back.” He grabbed his empty bottle off the ground and gave a nod to Jay before jogging off. As he approached the locker room door, he noticed Gary leaning in the doorway, eyes narrowed on Jay. Carlos scratched at his neck and approached him. “Hey.” He didn’t know why his head was suddenly filled with thoughts of Gary, but he figured it wasn’t too bad.

Gary turned his dark gaze to Carlos. “Why do you associated with him?”

The smaller teen blinked for a moment. “You mean Jay? He’s my friend.” His head was starting to pound. He ignored it. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I just don’t think someone as gorgeous and beautiful as you should be around someone with such a bad influence.” Gary finally softened his look and smiled down at Carlos. “You deserve much better. I know someone that can really take care of you and show off your,” he licked his lips, “ _attributes_ much better.”

“Uh,” Carlos felt flush, “who?”

Gary leaned forward. “Me.” His blue eyes caught Carlos’s and he took a step closer. “Don’t you think we’d be perfect together?”

“I don’t…” Carlos felt like everything around him was spinning.

“Just imagine it. Me, basically everything amazing, and you, beautiful and always by my side.” He reached out and Carlos wanted to turn away, but his body stayed frozen. “You don’t need Jay or even your other friends. I’d be enough for you. We’d be together all the time. Just think how pretty you would look holding onto my arm as we walked down the halls.” His fingers brushed over Carlos’s cheeks, curling under his jaw to tilt his head up. “We’d be so wonderful together. I could give you everything you’d want in a relationship.”

Carlos’s thoughts glazed over. All they seemed to do was chant Gary’s name over and over again. “Everything?” His voice came out in a hoarse whisper.

Gary bent his head down, his hot breath hitting Carlos’s lips. “ _Everything_ , my doll.” He was about to close the gap between them, but the high whine of the whistle broke them apart. Gary swore and moved away from the freckled teen. “Think about it,” he said before running off to join the rest of the team.

Carlos shook his head, trying to figure out what had just happened. He looked down to the empty bottle in his hand. His other hand went up to his choker, grasping the tag and feeling the warm metal against his palm. He turned away from the door and trudged back to the field where they were already starting a practice play.

Jay was rushing forward, he wasn’t even focusing on the ball or the goal. He sprinted straight for Gary, tackling him to the ground and using his stick to hit his helmet. The team was stunned into silence as Gary fought back, both of them grunting and shoving each other. The coach’s face contorted with anger as he marched over, grabbing their jerseys to separate them. Ben and Chad stepped in to help. “What do you two think you’re doing?”

Ben had a tight grip on Jay’s shoulder. “This is not what I meant when I said we would step in,” he hissed.

Gary pushed away from Chad, running a hand through his dark hair that had come undone during the fight. “I did nothing! It was all his doing!”

Carlos moved closer, torn between going to Gary or Jay.

Jay’s hair had also come undone. “I saw you bothering and harassing Carlos. What do you think you’re doing to him?”

Gary smirked. “It’s not like he was protesting.”

Jay snarled and tried to attack him again, but the coach held him back. “That’s it, Jay, you’re on the bench for the next three games. I can’t have you starting a fight every time we practice.”

“What?” Jay looked around at the rest of the team. He spotted Carlos and motioned for help. “C’mon, C, tell him that Gary was bothering you. I saw it.”

Carlos swallowed, his throat suddenly tight. “I…” He looked between Jay and Gary. “I just…” Gary smiled at him and his head was suddenly filled with a fog. “Gary was just talking to me, Jay. You overreacted.” He stepped over to Gary, placing a hand on his arm. “Are you alright? Did you he hurt you?”

Jay stood with his mouth agape. “C-Carlos… What-” He looked to the younger boy, but Carlos wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Carlos! Look at me!”

“I think you’ve had enough for today, Jay. Go hit the showers.” Coach crossed his arms. “Carlos, take Gary to the infirmary just to check him over.”

“No, you don’t understand—Carlos! Carlos, look at me!” Jay was shouting as Carlos walked away with Gary. “ _Carlos_!”

“Jay! I said to hit the showers!”

Jay felt sick as he watched Gary slip an arm around Carlos’s waist. He ran a hand through his hair and picked his helmet off the ground. He turned away and noticed Ben. Both of them exchanged glances and nodded.

It seemed there was a need for an intervention.

* * *

“Okay, I didn’t think things would escalate this quickly.” Evie pressed her fingers to her lips as she stared down at her desk. Classes had ended and as soon as she had dropped her bag on her bed, Jay and Ben came rushing in. “Do you think we should talk to him?”

“I don’t know if he’ll listen.” Ben sat down on Mal’s bed, reaching out to stroke one of her sketchbooks she left lying around. “Where’s Mal?”

“She said she had a quick meeting with Fairy Godmother about her mom and how’s she’s doing.” They all became silent as they thought of Mal’s mother still being imprisoned as a lizard. Mal usually didn’t like to talk about it a lot. “But she should be here soon. I also just texted Doug.”

“This is seriously freaking me out. He’s never been like this before.” Jay leaned against the wall and tilted his head back so it smacked against it.

Evie fiddled with the pens and pencils on her desk. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” she whispered. “Right now all we can do is watch out for him and make sure he doesn’t do anything too stupid.”

“He’s hanging out with Gary, how much stupider can it get?” Jay pushed away from the wall and began pacing. “You should have seen them though, E. It was like Carlos just completely ignored me and went to Gary. He wasn’t even hurt!”

Evie crossed her legs and folded her hands as she tried to think of what to say. “Do you think that maybe you were a little jealous that Carlos was showing Gary attention?” She bit her lip, hoping she wouldn’t give too much away.

“Why would I?”

“I don’t know.” She picked at the edge of her skirt. “Maybe you don’t realize how much Carlos actually means to you.” She looked to Ben and coughed. “Like how Mal didn’t know how much Ben actually meant to her.”

Ben raised his eyebrows, but remained silent as he waited for Jay’s response. Jay just seemed confused. He was about to speak, but before he could the door opened with a slam. The three teens jumped as Mal walked in. “Guess who I found wandering near tables for scrap?” She jerked her thumb through the door as Doug walked in.

Evie gave her boyfriend a concerned look. “You were looking for scraps?”

Doug flushed. “No! She meant Dude!” He pointed to the door as the mutt wandered into the room. “We found him begging for food. When we called Carlos about it he just said that Gary didn’t like Dude because he was a dirty animal. He also seem weirdly distracted, like he didn’t know what was happening.”

Jay motioned to Dude. “See, something is clearly wrong here! Carlos loves Dude and there is no way he would just abandon him because of what someone else says.” He began to explain what had happened at practice to Doug and Mal who both seemed disturbed by the news.

Ben slipped off the bed and greeted Mal with a small kiss. He put an arm around her shoulder. He wanted to ask about her mother, but knew the timing was wrong. So instead he focused on the problem at hand. “Maybe we should talk to Carlos about this because it seems like he’s really not himself.”

“Something is wrong with him, that’s for sure,” Mal said with a nod. “He can’t ignore all of us.”

Doug pushed at his glasses. “And if something really is wrong and he won’t listen, then we can go to Fairy Godmother. I’m sure she would be willing to help us.”

Mal made a face. “I know we’re supposed to be good and all, but I feel like this is more of our problem. I don’t know how much help Fairy Godmother would be.” She shrugged and glanced to Ben. “But I guess if we really have to, we can go to her. But,” she held up a finger, “only if it’s an emergency.”

Ben nodded. “Alright.” He looked to Jay. “So when should we talk to Carlos?”

“Tonight. Right now? I don’t know. Soon as possible.” The darker teen rubbed his eyes. He was so confused and exhausted. “Someone call him.”

“I got it.” Evie pulled out her phone and dialed Carlos. She waited, tapping her foot. She gave a frustrated cry. “He didn’t pick up.”

“Let me try.” Mal pulled out her phone. She looked up at the ceiling as she waited for him to pick up. She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Ben tried. “I got voicemail.”

Doug did too. “Nope.”

Jay pulled out his phone. “You guys can’t be serious. Carlos is glued to his phone, he has to pick up at some point.” He pressed the device to his ear and listened to the ringing. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. ‘ _Hey, this is Carlos, I’m not here-_ ’. Jay angrily pressed the end button. “He’s really not answering.” He went to his text messages. “I’ll text him. Maybe he’ll answer then.”

“Jay, maybe he just wants to be alone,” Evie said softly.

“I don’t think he’s alone if what we’re worried about is getting worse.” Mal frowned.

They all jolted when Jay’s phone went off. Soon after everyone else’s phones went off as well. He scrambled to open it. He growled. “Just an update from AuradonConnect.” Everyone let out a groan as they glanced at their phones. “Wait…” He continued to scroll and it felt like his stomach dropped. “I think I know why Carlos isn’t answering his phone,” he nearly seethed. “Check the update.”

Everyone began to go through their phones and silence blanketed them.

The new update had been a picture that Carlos had posted. He was leaning against Gary, a lovesick look in his eyes as Gary pressed a kiss to his cheek. He was laughing as the picture was taken, his dark eyes scrunched together. Jay felt like he was going to vomit as he reread the caption. ‘First date tonight with boyfriend!!’

“Oh…” Evie stared at her phone. “Oh no.”

Mal pursed her lips before speaking. “I didn’t know they were dating.”

Jay shoved his phone into his pocket and looked like he was ready to punch someone. “They weren’t dating this morning.” He hunched his shoulders and stomped to the door.

Evie stepped towards Jay, trying to grab his arm. “Jay, calm down.”

He jabbed a finger at her phone and the picture of Carlos. “You still think he just wants to be alone? Dude,” he snapped, “come on.” Dude whimpered, but followed him out the door.

“Jay! We need to talk about this!” The door’s slam drowned out her voice.

Doug scratched at his nose. “What just happened?”

Mal looked down to her phone once more. “I don’t know,” she said, “but this can’t be good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cookies always make things better, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not updating last week! I've been so busy with school and personal stuff so it's been hard. Updating may take a while from now on, but I'm still hoping to put up new chapters on a regular basis. 
> 
> I'm sorry for those who were waiting on this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it now. 
> 
> This story isn't Beta read so I apologize for any mistakes made!

Jay was woken out of his sleep when he heard voices outside the door. He glanced at the clock and found it was nearly midnight. There was a laugh. “Gary, I can’t go to sleep if you won’t let me go.” It was Carlos, bubbly and giggly. “You need to get back to your own room.” He sounded as if he was tipsy.

“How can I possibly leave you now, especially when your lips keep tempting me.” Jay gagged and sat up. Dude was sitting near his feet, his ears perked up at the sound of Carlos’s voice. There was a loud groan. “I wish I could have you all to myself.”

“I know,” Carlos sighed wistfully. “But I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right? You’ll walk me to class?”

“Don’t I always?” There was silence and Jay could hear the faint noise of Carlos moaning. He tried to focus on something else other than the fact that his best friend was making out with an asshole right outside the door. He gave a loud cough and heard stumbling footsteps. “Get some sleep, my love. I’ll see you in the morning.”

The door clicked open and Carlos slipped inside, a blissful smile on his face. He jumped and pressed a hand to his chest when he caught sight of Jay sitting up. “Oh, I didn’t know you would be up. Did I wake you?”

Jay scowled. “Why are you coming in so late, you know there’s a curfew, right?”

Carlos frowned. “I know. I just got distracted and lost track of time.”

Jay pinched the bridge of his nose. It was getting harder and harder to talk to Carlos about what was happening. He would just get defensive and deny everything, saying that he truly did like Gary. Evie was especially worried when she noticed Carlos wasn’t studying or doing his homework. He wasn’t even working on AuradonConnect anymore. Everything was about Gary now. It was getting to the point where Jay would barely see Carlos, and when he did, he was wrapped around Gary’s arm like a trophy.

“Look, can you just get back to our room on time? I don’t want to get in trouble just because you can’t keep time.” Jay went back under his covers and turned his back to Carlos.

Carlos paused. “Whatever. Don’t need to be so jealous,” he muttered.

Jay rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything more. There was a buzzing noise and Carlos let out a small laugh. Another buzz. Another laugh. Another buzz. Jay growled and pushed himself up. “Can you stop texting him? You just said goodbye to him a few minutes ago.”

“He was just saying goodnight.” Carlos gave him a dark look and sat down on his bed.

“Well then say goodnight and stop texting, isn’t that how it works?”

Carlos looked down to his phone, his fingers tapping against the screen. He slapped it down on his bedside table. “There, now you can stop complaining.” He began to shed his clothes and change into his pajamas without another word. Jay nodded to himself and laid back down, listening to Carlos’s breathing the rustling of his clothes. The bed across the room creaked and he finally relaxed knowing Carlos was going to sleep.

A few minutes later, Carlos’s phone went off.

* * *

The door to Evie and Mal’s room slammed open and Evie jumped, pricking her finger on needle. She was kneeling on the ground, trying to pin a skirt up for her new mathlete uniform. There were other uniforms already pinned and ready for sewing on the other side of the room. She shook her finger before sticking it in her mouth, glaring at Jay. “You don’t have to be so loud,” she whined around her finger. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” he said dismissively. “But this is an emergency.”

She sighed and finished pinning up the skirt before standing. “Carlos?”

“Who else?” Jay sat down at Evie’s desk, brushing off a few of her sewing supplies. “I can’t take much more of this. Have you and M come up with a plan yet or what?”

Evie frowned at Jay making  a mess of her things. “Mal is looking for something in her book and through some other things. I’ve been researching a few potions. So far all we came up with is the same out-of-love cookies that Mal had made for Ben. She’s going to make some tonight.” She sat down on her bed, facing Jay. “How’s Carlos, I haven’t seen him in forever, and when I do Gary is always hovering over him.”

“He’s…” Jay pressed a fist to his mouth and he shook his head. “I don’t know, E. This isn’t the Carlos we know. He’s so focused on Gary and it’s like nothing else matters. Not Dude, not us, not even his own health. I haven’t seen him eat a whole meal in a long time. I’m worried he’s going to get sick or something.” His high cheekbones flushed a little at admitting he was worried for Carlos’s wellbeing. “I can’t shake the feeling that something is seriously wrong here and I know that it’s possible that he might actually _like_ Gary,” he said disgusted, “but this isn’t okay.”

“It’s not, you right,” she agreed softly. “If you want, you can go see if Mal has found anything in the library.”

Jay mulled this over with a roll of his jaw. “I don’t know if I’ll find her, that place is huge. You know how Ben’s mom is about books. She has to have every book ever made in that place.”

Evie smirked. “Give me a second.” She went to her bag and rummaged through it. “Aha!” She pulled out her mirror, wiping off a smudge of makeup. “Alright. Mirror, Mirror in my hand, where is Mal among the land?”

Jay stood and watched over her shoulder as the face of the mirror shimmered before showing Mal among a pile of books, flipping through their pages. Evie zoomed out slightly. “She’s in the back, and I mean, all the way in the back where they keep the more,” she paused, “controversial stuff. You know, black magic, dark spells. Things of that sort.”

“Cool, thanks. Text me if you see Carlos at all.” He lightly punched her in the arm before dashing out the door.

Evie sighed and looked at the mirror. “When is he ever going to realize he might actually like Carlos?” The mirror only reflected her face. She frowned and shoved it back into her bag. “Well, it’s not like I can force him to see it.” She knelt down by her outfit. “He’ll have to figure it out himself.”

* * *

Mal growled and turned another page, rubbing at her forehead. She heard the stomps of Jay approaching and lifted her head. “You need to be quieter, this is a library,” she fake scolded. Jay rolled his eyes and sat down across from her. He pushed a few precariously stacked books away and folded his arms on the table. “If you’re here to ask me if I’ve made any progress, the answer is no.”

“What’s the matter?”

“What isn’t the matter.” Mal blew a few strands of purple hair from her face. “These books are so old that half the spells aren’t even legible, and a lot of them are either torn out or censored.” She pouted her lips and ran her fingers over the worn cover of a book. “I guess they were worried about a student getting the wrong idea and finding them.”

Jay was bouncing his leg. “So that means they’re no help at all?”

“Basically.” She leaned back in her chair. “We still have my spellbook and the cookies.” She threw head back. “I don’t understand why anyone else hasn’t noticed this. Even Fairy Godmother hasn’t said a word about Carlos acting strange.”

“Maybe they’re under a spell too.”

Mal crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t put it past Felicity to do that.”

“You think she’s behind this somehow?”

“Well,” Mal lifted her head, “Gary is too stupid, Diamond is just… Diamond, and Urson is too lazy to do anything. All he cares about is makeup.”

Jay scratched at his jaw. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But how did she mess with Carlos without any of us seeing?”

Mal bit her lip in thought. “That’s what I want to know.” She picked up a book and looked at it before tossing it back into a pile. “Right now I guess we should just worry about Carlos. You want to help me make the cookies? I’m doing it later today.”

“Nah, baking isn’t my thing.” He stood.

“Ah, don’t want to ruin your manly image, now would we?” Mal grinned.

Jay snorted. “I just don’t like baking, it has nothing to do with being manly.”

“Sure,” Mal teased.

“You think what you want. I’m heading out.” He gave her a salute and walked away before she could laugh at him anymore.

Mal watched him go. She looked at the books surrounding her and brushed a hand through her hair. She was going to have a long day.

* * *

“Where are you taking me?” Carlos was struggling, trying to get out of Jay’s grip. Jay had ambushed him in their room and dragged him out. “I have to meet Gary soon! I can’t be late!”

“Calm down. Mal made some snacks that I thought you would like. You know, since you haven’t been eating anything lately.” Carlos almost got loose, but Jay wrapped his arms around him and held him close. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re going to eat and you’re going to like it.”

Carlos kicked his legs out. “This is kidnapping and forcefeeding! I’m telling Fairy Godmother!” His collar was jingling with every kick he gave.

“Yeah? How you gonna do that?” Jay pulled out Carlos’s phone. He had nabbed it from the boy in his attempts at escaping.

“Jay! _Ugh_!”

They approached the kitchen and Evie opened the door. “Could you two be any louder? We can hear you shouting from in here” she hissed.

“Oh, I’m _sorry_ ,” Carlos sniped, “did my terrified screaming bother you all? I’ll try to keep it down as I’m being held _against my will_.” Evie frowned at his tone and Jay noticed the hurt look in her dark eyes. “Seriously, I have to go meet Gary!”

“Well you can meet him when you’re done eating, that is, if you still want to meet him.” She moved out of the way as Jay carried the boy into the kitchen. Mal was standing near a plate of cookies. Ben and Doug were near her as they watched Carlos fidget. Evie shut the kitchen door and went to stand on the other side of the counter. “Alright, let’s feed him.”

Mal grabbed a cookie and held it to Carlos’s mouth. “Just eat it Carlos, it’s for your own good.”

“Gary said cookies are high in calories and if I eat them I’m going to get fat!” Carlos turned his face away, clamping his lips shut.

“Since when have you ever cared about getting fat?” Ben raised an eyebrow.

Doug nodded. “Besides, you run around enough that eating cookies wouldn’t even put an ounce on you.”

Carlos remained silent, keeping his mouth closed. Jay sighed. “Alright, I didn’t want to do this.” He moved his hands so they were at Carlos’s sides and began to tickle the boy. Carlos giggled and struggled before finally tilting his head back and laughing. “Now, Mal!” Mal quickly shoved the cookie into Carlos’s mouth and stepped back.

Carlos seemed to gag for a moment before biting down and chewing. The rest of the cookie dropped to the floor. Everyone waited as Carlos swallowed. Jay was still holding onto him, muscled arms wrapped around the boy. “Carlos? You feeling any different?”

The boy felt dizzy, almost like he was about to pass out. He turned around and faced Jay, his hazy gaze meeting the older boy’s. “Jay? What’s... “ His body was on fire and being so close to Jay made it seem bearable. He wanted to lean his head down on Jay’s shoulder and just forget about everything.

“C? You alright?” Jay’s voice was uncharacteristically soft in Carlos’s ear. Carlos just moaned and pressed his forehead to Jay’s shoulder. He was almost feeling better… almost.

Carlos pushed away from Jay as his stomach lurched. He hurried to the nearest sink and doubled over it as he vomited. His body was shaking and his eyes and nose burned as he continued to spit up bile. Once he figured he was done, he turned on the tap and rinsed out his mouth before taking a long drink. His head was pounding and now he was angry.

He turned to his friends. “You guys are such _jerks_!”

Evie was by his side in a second. “Carlos we didn’t mean to get you sick,” she said. “We’re just trying to look out for you.”

“Yeah, sure.” He moved away from her as if she had stung him. “You guys are just jealous of me! You wanted me sick so I wouldn’t meet Gary.” He looked at them all and watched as they dropped their eyes in a guilty fashion. “Why can’t you just be happy for me?” He wrapped his arms around his stomach and moved towards the door. “I can’t believe you guys, I thought you were my friends.”

Jay caught his arm before he could leave. “We are your friends.”

Carlos looked at him, dark eyes red rimmed and watery. He shook his arm out from Jay’s grip. “No, not anymore.” He walked out, leaving everyone in silence.

* * *

“Can you believe them?” Carlos was sitting in Gary’s lap. He had gone to Gary’s dorm straight away and the older boy couldn’t seem happier. “I thought they were my friends.”

Gary had his face buried in the back of Carlos’s neck, his hands roaming around the boy’s sides. “I told you they were no good. Now you understand why I never liked them.” He pressed sloppy kisses against the boy’s freckled skin. “Such a shame they nearly tried to poison you.”

Carlos shifted. “I know,” he sighed.

Urson was at his vanity, curling his extremely long lashes with a device that looked like it was more suited for torture and not beauty. “I could give you a makeover to cheer you up.” He turned in his seat, batting those heavy lashes. “I’ve been wanting to dress you up. Those cheekbones and eyes are to die for.”

“I’m good.” Carlos leaned back into Gary with a pout.

“I could cut off their heads,” Diamond chimed in. She was playing an extremely violent video game. Carlos didn’t even think Auradon allowed that type of thing.

He squirmed. “Uh, no thanks. I don’t want them dead.”

Diamond shrugged. “Your loss then.”

“Now, now.” Felicity got up in one swift motion from the bed she had been laying on. From the amount of glitter and lipstick smudges on the pillow, it was probably Urson’s. “Let’s stop this talk of makeovers and killing people. I have a much better plan.” She smiled and Carlos grabbed Gary’s hand. Something about Felicity always scared him. Maybe it was because something about her reminded him of his mom.

Noticing Carlos’s fear, she put on a sympathetic face.“Your friends hurt you, right?”

Carlos nodded his head. “Yeah.”

“And you want to get back at them?”

He shrugged. “A little.”

Felicity chuckled, twirling a dark curl around her finger. “Then I have just the thing for you.” She pulled Carlos up from Gary’s lap. Carlos shivered, her hands were like ice. “Now, are any of them doing something big?”

Carlos fiddled with his fingers as he thought. “I think Evie is making new uniforms for the mathletes. Everyone is pretty excited for it since there’s a huge competition coming up.”

Her eyes glittered. “Is that so? Where is she keeping these uniforms?”

“Her and Mal’s room.”

Now it seemed even her shadow was vibrating with joy. “Alright then, that’s just perfect.” She reached into one of the many bags tied around her waist and pulled out a necklace. It was scary, a face carved into an ancient wood. “Now, I’m going to need your help to do this.”

Carlos paled. “What kind of help?”

She walked circles around him. “Nothing much, really. Just a strand of Mal’s hair is all.” She twirled the necklace around her finger. “It would work much better with blood, but a strand of hair is easier to get.” Carlos swallowed thickly. “And just a little technical work after that.” She stopped and smiled, holding out the necklace. “See, nothing too bad.”

“I-I guess.” He looked to Gary.

The dark haired teen stood, putting an arm around Carlos’s waist. “And this won’t get my little darling in trouble?”

Felicity made a face. “Not unless you idiots mess it up.”

Gary nodded and brought Carlos in close. “Don’t worry my love, I won’t let anything happen to you.” He began to kiss him, wet and harsh.

Felicity gave a disgusted scoff. “Nothing is going to happen if you drown him first.”

Carlos pulled away from the kiss, smiling happily. Gary ignored Felicity and reached out to touch the collar around Carlos’s neck. “I’m so glad you’re mine,” he muttered.

Carlos’s stomach rocked and he felt like he was going to be sick. He blamed it on the cookie and ignored it, stepping on his toes to kiss Gary. “I’m glad too.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cookies didn't work, but what about a little swim?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for not updating sooner. School is no fun, but hopefully this chapter makes up for it.   
> Thank you so much for the kudos and comments, they mean a lot!!
> 
> This story isn't Beta read so I apologize for any mistakes made!

Evie sat at her sewing machine, letting the sound of the thrumming needle settle her mind. She had tried to text and call Carlos to apologize for the cookies, but the boy refused to answer his phone and it was beginning to stress her out. She and Carlos had been so close and suddenly he wouldn’t even look at her in the halls. “Oh, no,” she whined. With her thoughts distracting her, she had accidentally sewed the sleeve to her uniform shut. She frowned and grabbed her seam splitter.

A knock on the door made her look up. “It’s open,” she called. The door opened and her heart leapt. “Carlos, hey.” She stood, going over to him. “Are you alright? I’ve been trying to call you, but you haven’t answered any of my texts or calls.”

The boy looked distracted, dark circles under his eyes. “Uh, yeah I’m fine. It’s fine. I just forgot to charge my phone.” He stepped into the room and wandered around as if he was looking for something. “Is Mal around?”

“No, she’s with Ben.” Evie twisted her hands together. “Do you need something from her?”

He stared at Mal’s bed. “No.” He went to her pillow, eyeing it closely. “I was just wondering.”

“Oh.” Evie bit her lip and continued to watch as Carlos simply stood over Mal’s bed. “Is there anything I could help you with then?”

He blinked. “Aren’t you working on your uniforms?”

She smiled. “Yeah! Nearly done with the last one!” She pushed her hair back off her shoulder. “Do you want to see them?”

“Sure.” He waited until she turned away and he reached out. There were a few stray hairs on the pillowcase. He grabbed some and stuck them into his pocket. Evie came to him, arms filled with the new mathlete uniforms. He glanced at them and nodded. “Cool.” He stepped around her and walked to the door without another word.

Evie frowned. “Uh, Carlos, you don’t want to stay and chat? I haven’t seen you in so long.”

He looked at her and seem confused. “I can’t. Gary is waiting for me.” He kicked at the floor and shrugged. “Sorry.”

She waved him off, trying to stop the sadness creeping up in her voice. “Don’t worry about it, we can talk another day.” She cleared her throat and watched him leave. “Bye,” she said softly to herself. As she put her uniforms away the door flew open and Mal came in, dragging Ben in by his hand. “Hey, did you guys see Carlos on your way here?”

Mal nodded. “He looks terrible.” Evie winced and nodded. “But, anyways, I think we have another way to help Carlos out.” She smiled and looked to Ben. “Well, go on, it was your idea.”

Ben flushed a little and adjusted his jacket. “I was talking with Mal about maybe going on a date and she brought up the lake we had went to on our first date. I remembered that the lake is enchanted and had washed away Mal’s love spell.” He held out his hands excitedly. “If we can somehow get Carlos into the lake, it might be able to wash away the spell!”

Evie smiled and jumped. “Oh! That’s super awesome!” She hugged them both and giggled. “This might actually work then! We can help Carlos!”

Mal wrapped her hands around Ben’s arm and squeezed. “Yup, looks like you’re more than just a pretty face.” Ben pretended to snarl at her, but kissed her nose. She laughed. “Down boy.” Evie rolled her eyes at their affection. Mal looked to her. “But, wait, what was Carlos doing over here? We saw him coming from this way.”

“He had stopped by. I don’t know why, but he was here for a few minutes and just left.” Evie bit her nails lightly. “I’m worried that whatever Gary is doing is affecting his brain or something.” She looked at her nails and shook her head, running her fingers through her hair. “He said he wanted to see my uniforms, but then he just left before he could even really see them. I worked hard on them too.”

Mal patted her shoulder sympathetically. “I know you did, E.”

Ben nodded. “We have to remember that this isn’t the Carlos we know.” Evie smiled at him and he smiled back. “So, on to the next issue at hand. How are we going to get Carlos away from Gary long enough to take him to the lake. Not to mention after the whole cookie incident. I don’t think he’s going to come easily.”

Mal let out a long breath of air. “That is going to be a problem.” She tapped her fingers against Ben’s arm in thought. “I would try and put a spell on him, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Not with whatever Gary has on him is so strong.”

Evie twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Okay, this is probably going to sound bad, but…” She sighed. “I think I can make a potion to knock Carlos out for while so we can get him to the lake.” Mal and Ben stared at her and she groaned. “Look, my mother is best known for making Snow White pass out so I’m pretty sure I can do that to C! It won’t be permanent or anything like that! Just something to knock him out long enough so we can get him where we want him.”

“I can’t believe you just suggested we drug one of our best friends,” Mal said with a grin, “especially in front of the king.”

“I _know_ , but it’s all I can really think of.” Evie crossed her arms. “I just want our Carlos back.”

“It’s not a bad idea, really. All we need is someone to go with Carlos to supervise him and make sure he doesn’t drown,” Ben said. “I’ll stay here to distract Gary with tourney practice or something.”

“I can’t swim so I’m out,” Mal pointed out.

Evie shook her head. “I don’t know where this place is and I can’t control Carlos if he wakes up. We need someone strong enough to be able to keep Carlos in check.” She tapped her foot and hummed.

The door opened and Jay walked in, Dude in his arms. “Hey, guys, I was looking for you—Why is everyone looking at me like that?”

* * *

“Okay, so run this by me again.” Jay rubbed at his eyes. They had moved their conversation to the dining hall. No one as paying attention to them and Carlos was nowhere to be seen. Dude whined and curled up in Jay’s lap, missing his best friend.

Mal waved her fork around as if it was a wand. “Evie is going to make a potion that will knock Carlos out and then you’re going to take him to the enchanted lake where, hopefully, he’ll be freed of whatever spell Gary has on him. Ben will stay here to distract Gary. It shouldn’t take too long, but if it does I’ll try and come up with some diversion.” She pointed the utensil at Jay. “All clear now?”

Jay sat back. “But I don’t know where the lake is.”

Ben slid a piece of paper across the table. “I wrote down the directions. I’ll lend you my motorbike.”

“Awesome,” Jay murmured. He had always wanted to try the motorbike. “So you guys really think this is going to work?”

Evie waved a hand through the air. “The enchanted lake has a stronger concentration of magic compared to the cookies. If this doesn’t work then I don’t know what will.” Even she could hear the worry in her tone. “We’ll do it Friday after classes let out, that way no one will really notice if you two are gone. I'm planning on unveiling my uniforms that night, so that will help distract Fairy Godmother.”

Jay chewed on the inside of his cheek. It was getting harder and harder to be around Carlos. In their dorm, Carlos barely showed up and when he did he ignored Jay as if he was invisible. During tourney practice, Carlos always stayed near Gary, watching as Gary usually targeted Jay during the middle of practice. It’s not like Jay could fight back of course, their coach was keeping an eye on him after he had fought with Gary.

The table had fallen silent and the group of friends looked at each other. Jay looked down at Dude and scratched the mutt’s back, hoping that everything would be back to normal after this.

* * *

“You got the hair?” Felicity got up from her desk and stalked over to where Carlos was standing by Gary. The boy moved slightly behind the taller male and nodded, holding out a few strands of purple hair. “Perfect.” She grabbed them and studied each one. “These will do just fine.” Even her shadow was grinning.

Gary raised an eyebrow. “And what do you need the hair for?” He wrapped an arm around Carlos’s shoulders and hugged him close. “Is it part of a spell?”

Felicity curled her lips back in a snarl. “I don’t do spells. I have a much more _darker_ way of working with magic.” She turned to where Diamond was sleeping on her bed. She kicked the framed. “Diamond,” she snapped, “wake up.”

The smaller girl shouted and grunted as she kicked out in her sleep. “I will cut your head off!” She sat up, hair sticking up everywhere. “I was sleeping!”

“That’s great and all, but I need you for a moment.” Felicity didn’t seem to care about Diamond’s threats. She waited, hands on her hips as Diamond struggled to get out of bed. “Alright then, let’s see how good you would look with purple hair.” She took one of the hairs and grabbed the freaky necklace from her belt. She held out the strand and Carlos watched in horror as the small wooden head opened its mouth and ate the hair. It shook and glowed red. “There,” Felicity said proudly. She hooked the necklace around Diamond’s neck.

Before their eyes Diamond transformed into Mal, outfit and all. She turned around and looked at herself in the mirror and pulled on her hair and face. “What did you do to me?!” Her voice was still her own, but besides that, she could easily pass for Mal. She grabbed the mirror and peered closer, studying her new face.

Felicity had that glint in her eye that scared Carlos. “I was taught by the best. As long as you wear that necklace, everyone will think you’re Mal. But the hair is a weak source so it’ll run out of power quickly. That’s why we need to get on with our plan as soon as possible. We’re doing it this Friday. Urson overheard that Evie is showing off her clothing that night.”

Carlos clung to Gary’s arm. “What is the plan exactly?” As much as he was upset with his former friends, he didn’t want them hurt.

Gary pet Carlos’s head, his fingers dipping down to brush against the collar. “Yes, what are we going to do?”

Felicity motioned for them to gather around her. “You better tell Urson this because I’m not going to repeat it.” Gary nodded, icey eyes narrowed. “Alright,” she said with a smirk, “here’s the plan…”

* * *

Evie coughed as a plume of smoke poured out from the bowl in front of her. She wondered how her mother dealt with all the nasty smells the potions and ingredients gave off. Mal got up from where she was sitting to open a window in hopes to let out some of the smoke. If someone found out they were making a potion, especially one that would knock someone out, they would get in huge trouble. Not to mention they were still earning everyone’s trust on being good.

They had worked all week to gather the ingredients. Some were rather easy, but others were nearly impossible to find. Thankfully Ben being king meant he had access to a lot more ingredients than what the kitchen could offer.

“That stuff smells _horrible_ ,” Mal complained. “How did Snow White not smell the stuff on that apple?” She pinched her nose as she peered over Evie’s shoulder.

Evie swatted at her. “It’s not going to smell bad once it’s finished. And, truthfully, I don’t think Snow White was all that careful when it came to food. Afterall, she did have a bunch of dirty animals help her make most of her food.”

Mal snickered. “I thought we were supposed to be good.”

“We are, I’m just stating the truth.” Evie twirled her wooden spoon. “You know I’m right.”

“Alright, alright. How long is this going to take? I can’t stand this smell much longer. I’m pretty sure Jane or Audrey are going to be here any second screaming about a gas leak or something.”

The dark haired girl checked the recipe. “Should just take a few more minutes. Once it’s done I’ll bottle it up in something that Carlos would drink out of. Maybe that will make it easier to get him to drink this.” She sorted through her bags and cups of ingredients. After adding whatever was left, the bowl let out another burst of smoke and turned a bright green color. It bubbled and sloshed around in the bowl. It gave off a pleasant smell and Evie stepped back, admiring her work. “There, that should be it!” She searched around the room and gave a triumphant cry when she found what she wanted.

“Are you excited about an empty sports drink bottle?” Mal smiled at her friend.

Evie spun the bottle between her hands. “I am because this is where the potion is going.” She went to the bowl and managed to pour it into the bottle with minimal spilling. After cleaning up her mess and hiding away the leftover ingredients, she closed the bottle and set it down on her desk. “There, a perfectly good sports drink that will just make Carlos a teensy-weensy sleepy.”

“And the bright green color isn’t going to worry him?” Mal picked up the bottle and looked at it.

“We’ll just tell him it’s a new flavor.” Evie pulled out her phone. “I’m going to text Jay to bring him over.”

Mal sat on her bed and grabbed her sketch book, idly drawing as they waited for Jay to show up. It was nearly fifteen minutes before there were footsteps and Jay walked in, Carlos behind him. He didn’t look happy to be there, but at least he wasn’t screaming like last time. Evie clapped her hands. “Carlos! You made it!”

He wrapped his arms around his stomach. “Yeah. Gary was busy with some extra practice. Ben said I wasn’t invited and wouldn’t even let me near the field.” He frowned and glared at the floor. “So, what did you want me here for? I was going to go wait for Gary in his room.”

Mal looked at him. “So why did you even come here?”

“I’m only here because Jay said you guys wanted to apologize. But whatever, I’m leaving.” He tried to turn and leave, but Jay caught him by his arm. “Jay, let go.”

“Just listen. We’re sorry.” Jay bent his head down, dark eyes meeting Carlos’s. “We wanted to give you something to make up for what we did.” Carlos shrank away, but didn’t say anything. Jay held out his hand and Evie gave him the bottle and he showed it to Carlos. “We know you’ve wanted to lose weight and stay slim for Gary, right?” Carlos nodded and looked at the bottle suspiciously. “Well, we all pulled together and got this new sports drink that’s supposed to help you lose weight.”

He took it slowly, eyes jumping from each of his friends. “And this isn’t some sort of joke? Because if this is another cookie thing then—”

“It’s not!” Evie cut in. She touched Carlos’s shoulder. “We know we had been mean, but we want to make up for it.”

Carlos stepped away from her. “Well, thanks, I guess.” He took a step towards the door. “I’m going to go see if Gary is done with his practice.” Mal grabbed his shirt sleeve. “What?”

“Aren’t you going to taste it?” She asked.

“Later, sure.” He tried to get out of her grip.

Evie tilted her head. “Why not now?”

Carlos narrowed his eyes at them. “Why?”

Mal shook her head. “We just wanted to know if you liked this flavor. We could get you more if you do.”

“I can tell you guys later,” he said. He was beginning to hunch his shoulders, becoming defensive. “Seriously, just let me go.”

Jay sighed. “Please, Carlos, just tell us if you like it. We want to make sure that you’re okay with us again.”

Carlos opened his mouth, about to argue that Gary had been right about them not being his true friends. He looked at the bottle and decided it would be better to just get them off his back than to deal with them pestering him. He opened the cap and sniffed it, checking if it smelled weird. It didn’t and he looked at it once more. “One sip and I can leave?”

Evie nodded furiously. “Just one sip.”

He licked his lips and tipped the bottle against his mouth. He drank a small sip and looked at the group. “It tastes like apples,” he said flatly. Suddenly it felt like he was being pushed into darkness. His head was spinning along with the room. He dropped the bottle and stumbled back, falling into strong arms. He reached up, fingers brushing a jaw. “Gary?” He tried to fight the exhaustion tugging at his mind, but his eyes slipped shut and he fell into a sleep.

Jay looked down at the boy in his arms, his chest burning. He faced the girls, lifting Carlos against his chest to carry him. “We have to go now.”

They nodded and began to move. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can the lake work its magic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the kudos and comments!! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this story. 
> 
> This story isn't Beta read so I apologize for any mistakes made!

Jay tried to keep Carlos close to his chest as they hurried down the halls of the school. People stared at them and Evie just gave the excuse that Carlos had been practicing too hard. They all bought it and laughed. They were nearly outside when Fairy Godmother stepped in front of them, concern on her face. “Oh my! What happened to poor Carlos?”

Evie and Mal looked at each other, eyes wide. Mal stepped forward. “He’s been practicing so much and barely taking care of himself that he just passed out. We were going to take him to his room so he could sleep.” She smiled, hoping the older woman would take the bait.

“But his room is the other way. And shouldn’t you take him to the infirmary? He looks like he’s dead.” Fairy Godmother hovered over Carlos, petting his hair and tapping his cheeks. Jay tried to move away from her, but she continued to follow and poke at the freckled boy. “Carlos! Carlos, wake up for a moment dear.” She frowned and looked at the three closely. “Are you sure he’s alright? He’s not waking up at all.”

Evie fluttered her eyelashes and grabbed onto Fairy Godmother’s arm, leading her away. “He’s a very heavy sleeper. Back on the Isle he always had to sleep through his mother’s snoring and it was just dreadful. I guess he just adapted and can sleep through anything now.” She pulled her farther from the group. “Oh! I have been meaning to tell you that I’m ready to unveil my new uniforms!”

Fairy Godmother gave Carlos one last look before turning her attention to Evie. “That’s great! Can you have them set up in the classroom we agreed on for tonight and we’ll show them after dinner?” Evie nodded and they walked off, chatting about the preparations.

Jay let out a low whistle. “That was close.”

Mal shoved him forward. “Too close. Now hurry up and go before someone else stops us or he wakes up.”

The dark skinned teen moved to the doors. He glanced down to Carlos’s peaceful face and felt his throat tighten. “I hope this works, Carlos,” he whispered. Carlos just mumbled in his sleep and buried his face against Jay’s chest. Jay shook his head and tried to focus. He had to get going.

* * *

Jay tilted his head back as the wind hit his body. Carlos was placed against his chest, still sleeping peacefully, even when Jay managed to hit the bumps on the road. With his arms on both side of the boy, it kept him from falling off the bike. Speeding down the nearly empty roads of Auradon was amazing. Jay never knew there could be so many green trees in one place. The air was fresh and the sounds he heard over the hum of the motor were magical. He understood why Ben would take Mal out for a date like this.

He pulled to a stop and lifted the visor of his helmet to check if he was on the right path. As he was reading over the directions, Carlos stirred and began to babble incoherently. Jay just pat his back, hoping to lull him back to sleep. Carlos snorted and snuggled closer to Jay. “Almost there, buddy,” Jay said as he put away the directions.

The ride was short, but it felt like forever with the weight of Carlos on him. He pulled off the road and into the patch of forest Ben had described. He parked the bike and carefully slid off with Carlos in his arms. He pulled off his own helmet and shook out his hair before struggling to get Carlos’s off. He sighed and looked around to where the path led. He grabbed Carlos and hauled him over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing at all. And considering how unhealthy he was being for the past few weeks, Jay was certain he had lost weight.

With Carlos settled on his shoulder, Jay began to trek down the path. It was almost peaceful if it wasn’t for the constant jingling of Carlos’s collar. All it did was remind of him Gary and how Carlos was totally obsessed with him. What was so great about Gary anyways? He had muscles, sure, but so did Jay! In fact, Jay thought to himself, he was better than Gary overall. Why didn’t anyone see this? Why didn’t Carlos see it?

Jay almost lost his footing because he was thinking so hard. He caught himself against a tree and took a moment to try and clear his thoughts before he went on. He came to the bridge and let out a sigh. Couldn’t the enchanted lake be closer to the school? He tightened his grip on Carlos and prayed that the boy wouldn’t wake up when they were crossing. Who knew what Carlos would do if he found himself on a bridge in the middle of nowhere.

He held his breath as he walked onto the bridge. His heavy boots stomped against the wooden boards. The sound seemed to echo in the empty space around them. The bridge swayed every now-and-then, making Jay stop and cling to the rope with his free hand and clutch Carlos with a death grip. The last thing he wanted to do was drop the boy.

With thundering steps, Jay made his way across the bridge at a brisk pace. He panted and moved forward without looking back. He didn’t want to think about going back over that deathtrap. How did Mal and Ben make it over without freaking out? He shook  his head and continued on.

He didn’t know why, but as he got closer to the lake, things seemed to become different. The air was lighter and the light glittered off the leaves above their heads. Even all the noise of the forest seemed to give way to the sound of bubbling water. “Oh, wow,” he muttered as he spotted the crystal clear water of the lake.

Jay stepped onto the small platform, looking up at the pillars and squinting at the sun that was beginning to lower behind the trees. He would need to hurry if he didn’t want to go back when it was dark out. Not to mention someone would find it suspicious if they were gone for too long. He laid Carlos down. “Time to go swimming.” He tugged off his own boots and jacket. He glanced at Carlos and began to take off the boy’s shoes and socks. “I got you,” he murmured. Carlos just curled closer to Jay, which made it harder to get the shirt he was wearing off.

Jay had seen Carlos shirtless before, but there was something different about seeing him like this. Asleep and vulnerable. The boy had freckles all over his chest, stomach, and back. He looked over the smooth expanse of the boy’s body, his fingers lingering on Carlos’s hips as he debated whether or not to take off his shorts. He pulled away and thought it would be best to keep them on. He stood up and took off his shirt, throwing it into the growing pile of clothes. He wished he had a swimsuit, but he didn’t have his and he certainly wasn’t going to borrow a pair of Ben’s. No tiny crowns for him, thank you very much.

He grabbed Carlos and sat him up against one of the pillars. He looked at the black leather of the collar and scratched at his nose before going to take it off. He tried to the find the end, but it seemed there was none. He couldn’t stretch it or rip it. He sat back on his heels and gave up. It seemed he got the collar on by himself, so Carlos could take it off when he woke up. If it got ruined in the water then that would be an added bonus.

“Let’s do this.” Jay clapped his hands and hauled Carlos up into his arms so he could carry him into the water. He walked slowly, afraid to slip. At first he only dipped in his foot. He was surprised to find it was actually pretty warm. “Not so bad,” he said. He jumped in and the water came up to his thighs.

Wading forward slowly, he gently lowered Carlos down into the water. Carlos floated relatively easy, but Jay kept his hands pressed into the smaller boy’s back just to make sure he didn’t go under too far. He waited for something to happen, his dark eyes looking over Carlos’s face for any sign of change. “Come on,” he urged. He pushed his hair from his face, tangling his wet fingers through the strands. “Carlos, wake up.”

Carlos moaned, body twitching as he pulled himself out of sleep. He tried to roll over, but Jay stopped him, moving so Carlos’s chest was against his own and holding him there. “Carlos,” he called out gently, “wake up.” Carlos leaned his face against Jay’s shoulder, his mouth open. Their wet skin kept making his cheek slide against Jay’s chest, his face dunking into the water a few times. Jay grabbed the back of his head and tilted it so his face was pointed up to the sky.

Carlos’s eyelids fluttered and Jay noticed how the younger boy’s long lashes clung together because of the water. “Mmm… too early,” Carlos mumbled. He huddled closer to Jay, shivering and whining about losing his blankets.

Jay felt his heart beat a little faster as Carlos finally opened his eyes. Carlos’s confused gaze met Jay’s and he smiled a little. “Jay?” His voice sounded hoarse, but it sounded like Carlos. “Is this a dream?” He reached up and his fingers followed the sharp curve of Jay’s cheek.

Jay shook his head, mouth going dry. “No, no, you’re awake,” he croaked.

Carlos blinked, smiling. “You sure?” Jay’s hand came up and cupped his, his palm warm and large. “Jay,” he said absently.

“I’m right here,” he replied. Carlos smiled, eyes squinting. Jay had missed that little squint. He smiled back, fingers curling around Carlos’s, feeling how cold they were. “I missed you buddy.”

Carlos let out a strangled laugh. “Where did I go?”

“Do you remember anything?” Jay’s eyes searched his face. “Do you feel any different?” He certainly felt different.

Carlos grunted, confused. Wasn’t he just floating around with Jay? Wasn’t Jay holding him close and holding his hand? What else would he need to remember? He head began to pound and his throat felt like it was on fire. He struggled to push away from Jay, his body about to burst from the pressure building inside. He gasped, scrambling in a terrible attempt at the doggy paddle to get back to dry land.

“Carlos!” Jay swam after him.

Carlos pulled himself up onto the small area and choked out water that had managed to find it’s way into his mouth. He curled up, clawing at his neck to try and stop the fire creeping it’s way up into his head. Flashing images of Gary slammed into his thoughts and he screamed. Everything was Gary. How could he have forgotten Gary? This was his punishment for forgetting his boyfriend. He cried out as a hand pressed against his arm. How could he have let anyone else but Gary touch him?

“Don’t touch me!” He screamed. Jay pulled back, eyes wide as he watched his friend squirm in pain. “What did you do?!”

“I was trying to save you! Carlos, you’re under some sort of spell! You don’t really love Gary!” Jay loomed over the smaller boy, trying to get him to calm down. “Gary did something to you.”

Carlos sat up, shoving Jay away. “You’re the only one doing something to me! The cookies, now this! Why are you so upset that I’m dating Gary? Are you jealous?”

Jay felt his face heat up. “No! I’m not jealous!” Was he jealous? “We’re all worried about you!” Could he be jealous? He clenched his hands, trying to clear his head. He lowered his voice. “You have to see that something is wrong here.”

The boy glared. “The only thing I see that’s wrong here is you guys. For once I found someone who likes me. Someone who is _willing_ to date me. Do you know what it was like to hear my mother tell me that no one would love me? Or watch you and Evie have everyone fawn over you? Even Mal has a king for a boyfriend! Don’t you get it, I was  _unlovable_.” He stood, legs shaking. “Gary likes me and you guys are just like my mother, trying to take away the things that make me happy.”

“You know that’s not true.” Jay stood as well, trying to approach the shivering teen. “Gary is using you.” Carlos shook his head, water flying from his hair. “You know he is.” Carlos remained silent, head hung low. Jay watched him, jaw clenched.

Slowly, Carlos raised his head. His eyes were wide and watery. His freckled cheeks look hollowed, his lips thin as he just stared at Jay. He wrapped his arms around his body, shaking so hard his teeth were chattering. Jay noticed it was getting colder out as the sun dipped behind the trees. He cleared his throat. “Carlos…”

“Take me back,” the boy mumbled.

Jay hesitated and ran a hand through his damp hair. “Y-Yeah, okay.” They awkwardly put their dry clothes back on. Carlos was still shivering so Jay held out his jacket. The freckled teen stared for a few seconds before snatching it and slipping it on. He continued to glower at Jay, showing he still didn’t trust the older teen. Jay just held his hands up in defense, starting off towards the trail. “It’s this way,” he explained.

Carlos trudged behind him, sniffling every once in awhile. Jay felt guilt seize his heart and he glanced back every now and then to make sure Carlos was still following. When they made it to the bridge, Jay waited for Carlos’s reaction, wondering if he would need help crossing. Carlos just marched on, one hand wrapped in the jacket, the other holding onto the collar tag tightly. Jay was behind him, going at a slower pace just to watch Carlos walk ahead. He didn’t understand what had happened. It was like Carlos was almost having an allergic reaction to the magic. He sighed through his nose and before he knew it, he had crossed the bridge, too consumed in his thoughts to even notice he made it. Carlos was waiting for him at the end, once again moving behind Jay as he led the way.

They continued on and Jay stopped when there was a rusting and a thump. He turned and found Carlos on the ground, his nails digging into the dirt and his mouth thinned into a white line. Jay frowned and went to his side. “Are you okay?” Carlos ignored him and pushed himself back up to his feet. He tottered and Jay caught his elbow. “Easy,” he mumbled. Carlos jerked his arm away. Jay shook his head and went back to walking.

When they made it back to the motorbike, Jay paused. He didn’t know where he was going to have Carlos sit. When he was driving here, the boy had been placed against his chest, but he assumed Carlos wouldn’t like that now that he was awake. He grabbed the helmets and tossed one to Carlos. “Uh, just hop on the back and hold onto me.”

Carlos wrinkled his nose. “I can hold onto the bike.” He slid on his helmet to end the discussion.

Jay rolled his eyes and tied up his hair before he put his helmet on. He sat down on the bike and waited until he felt the machine dip with the added weight of Carlos. He drove slowly at first, but with the sky getting darker and darker by the minute, he picked up speed. Carlos let out a small noise that Jay could barely hear over the sound of the wind and the bike. The smaller teen wrapped his arms around Jay’s stomach as they took a particularly sharp turn.

Jay’s lungs felt like they were on fire as he felt Carlos curl closer, fingers digging into his abs. He felt his cheeks heat up as Carlos’s helmet thumped against his broad shoulders. He wanted to stop the bike and turn around to take Carlos into his arms.

He nearly crashed the bike at the thought. What was with him? Since when did he ever want to do that? He shook his head and forced himself to focus on the road, pushing the bike to go as fast as it could.

* * *

Felicity was about ready to attack someone as she paced around her room. Diamond was sitting on her own bed, watching nervously. “I can’t believe this, he’s the next part of this plan!” She turned to Gary, mouth twisted in a snarl. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping tabs on him? He’s your pet after all.”

He scoffed. “That wannabe king made me practice with him for hours on end, I couldn’t get away without making him suspicious.”

Urson was checking his blush with his compact mirror. “It’s not like he can go too far, all he does is wait around for Gary.”

Felicity turned to him, fury in her eyes. “You’re one to talk. Where have you been lately? You do realize we have evil to do.”

He puckered his lips. “I was doing some makeovers for some of the girls. They wouldn’t leave me alone until I did them up.” The way he was speaking made it seemed that he had actually wanted to give them makeovers. “I can’t help it if they want to look as amazing as me.”

The dark skinned girl growled, grabbing Urson’s chin in her hand. His cheeks squished out and his lips looked like a cherry tomato as her nails bit into his skin. “I think you should keep your makeup to yourself. Because if this plan doesn’t work, you’re going to need it to cover up all the damage I am going to do to you.” She released his face, proud of the fearful look in his dolled up eyes. “Do I make myself clear?”

He dropped his gaze. “Crystal,” he muttered.

She was about to say something else, but the door opened and a shivering Carlos stepped in. He had removed Jay’s jacket, knowing Gary wouldn’t have liked that. Gary rushed to him, taking him into his arms. “My poor Carlos, my doll, what happened to you? You’re wet and shaking.” He grabbed Carlos’s chin, lifting his head up. “You’re beautiful face is clammy and your eyes are bloodshot.”

“I’m sorry,” Carlos croaked. He pushed himself closer to Gary, nuzzling his face into Gary’s chest. “You were right about everything. I’m sorry.”

Gary smiled, petting down Carlos’s hair. “It’s alright, my love. I understand. You can tell me everything later tonight. Come stay in my room for the night.” Carlos nodded, sniffling and shaking.

Felicity loomed over Carlos, her shadow gathering around him. “Now that you’re finally here,” she hissed, “you can upload something for me.” She handed him a flash drive.

He looked at it, still huddled up in Gary’s arms. “But you can upload it onto your own account.”

She smiled, teeth flashing. “It’s not going onto my account.”

* * *

“So?” Evie pulled Jay aside as soon as she saw him. They were gathered with a few other students and Fairy Godmother in one of the classrooms. Evie had set up her outfits in the front where they were covered, waiting to be shown. “How’s Carlos?”

Jay shook his head and bit his lip before speaking. “I don’t know what’s going on E. For a moment I thought it had worked, but then all of a sudden he’s pushing me away and screaming like he’s dying.” He ran a hand through his hair. “The moment we parked, he threw my jacket at me and ran off.”

She frowned, brown eyes widening. “It didn’t work… What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.” His voice came out as a whisper. His head was so jumbled he couldn’t think straight. His thoughts kept going back to Carlos and his urges to hold the boy close. He thought about Carlos being pressed against his chest, head tilted back so he could look up Jay with those big doe eyes. Jay groaned. “Let’s just focus on you for right now. It’s your time to shine.”

This got a small smile from her. “I guess you’re right.” She pointed at the crowd. “I’m going to be with Doug. Mal and Ben are coming a little later, they were on a last minute date.”

“Cool, are you going to be starting soon?”

“Evie!” Fairy Godmother called. “Come to the front and let’s see your beautiful uniforms!”

“Apparently now,” she laughed. She patted Jay on the cheek. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.” He watched her be swallowed by the crowd. He pushed his way to the front. Evie was standing with Doug, crushing his hand as she bounced excitedly. Fairy Godmother was chatting with her for a moment. Jay felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Mal and Ben. “Hey, you guys made it just in time.”

Mal let out a breath. “So glad I didn’t miss it. Evie would have killed me.”

They all laughed and quieted down as Fairy Godmother clapped her hands. “Alright, everyone! Let’s settle down and turn our attention to Evie. She has generously made new uniforms for the mathletes and if possible, she will continue and design new uniforms for all of our clubs!” There was clapping and even some cheering from a few mathletes in the crowd. “Now, Evie, if you would be so kind as to show us your work!”

Evie gave Doug a quick kiss before she stepped up to the mannequins. She grabbed the tarp thrown over them and smiled to her friends. She yanked away the sheet. She let out  a scream, backing away. “M-My uniforms,” she sobbed into her hands.

There were gasps. The uniforms had been destroyed. There were scraps cut out and purple and green paint splattered onto them. Large ‘M’s had been painted onto the chests of all the uniforms. There was no saving them in the condition they were in.

All eyes turned to Mal and she shook her head, holding onto Ben’s arm for support. “I-I didn’t! I was with Ben!”

He stepped forward. “It’s true, Fairy Godmother.”

The older woman frowned. “But who else would do this?”

As if giving an answer, everyone’s phones began to go off. Soon everyone was looking down at their devices, all of them watching the same video. Mal looked over to someone nearby, watching the video. Her legs were shaking.

In the video, it was her ripping apart the uniforms and painting them. Apparently she had posted it herself on AuradonConnect with the caption ‘Long Live Evil.’ But it couldn’t have been her. It wasn’t her! Someone showed Fairy Godmother the video and her eyes turned to Mal, disappointment showing on her face. “Mal, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me for a moment.”

“It wasn’t me though. Evie, you know it wasn’t me.” Mal looked to her friend, but Evie was turned towards Doug. “Evie, you have to trust me. I would never do this to you.”

Fairy Godmother stepped closer. “Mal, please come with me.”

All the young girl could do was nod. She followed Fairy Godmother out of the room, her stomach drawing up tight as other students stepped away from her as if she was made of fire. She wanted to cry. Hadn’t she shown them that she wanted to be good? Didn’t they trust her at all? She tried to keep her tears from falling, holding her head up higher.

When they got out to the hallway, Felicity was waiting outside, leaning against the wall. She was smiling at Mal, dark eyes watching her every move. Gary was smirking, a distracted Carlos in his arms. Diamond sneered, crossing her arms and laughing at Mal. Urson was looking away, lips pursed. Felicity pushed away from the wall, motioning for the rest of her group to follow.

Mal watched them over her shoulder, fingers curling into fists. Evil was alive, she thought, and it’s name was Felicity. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My tumblr--> shiwasme.tumblr.com


End file.
